top 10 research topics for 2022

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Research Topics:

1. Viral diseases

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37 articles

2. Exploring sound

442,000 views
23 articles

3. Neurodegenerative diseases

387,000 views
19 articles

4. Psychedelic therapy

346,000 views
22 articles

5. Circadian rhythms

335,000 views

6. Covid-19 insights

320,000 views
84 articles

7. Vaccine safety

244,000 views
10 articles

8. Spirituality and healthcare

242,000 views
16 articles

9. Antiviral plants

208,000 views

10. Quaternary fossils

144,000 views

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A List of 580 Interesting Research Topics [2024 Edition]

In school and college, you will be required to write research papers. Yes — papers in the plural. And that’s the first reason you may want to turn to Custom Writing and seek help with research projects.

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When assigned a paper, the very first undertaking is to choose from a list of research topics. This is a daunting, even intimidating task, one that many people would prefer to circumvent altogether.

The good thing is:

There are hundreds of exciting and fun research topics for high school or college students from which to choose. With a variety of options, you are likely to find some interesting things to research. When you have good ideas and help available, this task becomes less threatening and more engaging.

But first: Let’s verify you have a complete comprehension of what writing a research paper entails. After all, you can’t be creative with an idea if you don’t know how to write about it. Then, you’ll find numerous interesting research topics for your work.

🔝 Top 10 Research Topics

❓ What Is a Research Paper?

✍️ How to Find Topics to Write About

⭐ A List of Research Topics

💻 IT Topics
🏺 History Topics
🧠 Psychology Topics
🎓 Education Topics
📺 Cultural Topics
🗣️ Topics for an Argumentative Essays

🔬 Science Research Topics

💉 health topics for research papers.

👔 Business Research Topics
📚 Literature Topics
🗳️ Political Topics

😂 Fun Research Topics

👥 Sociology Research Papers

🎯 Specific Research Proposal Topics

👩‍⚕️ Nursing Research Papers
🎨 Art Topics
🎼 Music Topics
✍️ Creative Writing Topics
🎈 Other Topics

🔝 Top 10 Research Topics for 2024

Maintaining social bonds via music
Use of AI in robotics
Narcissistic personality disorder: genetic factors
Mental effects of remote work
Use of infrared detectors in alarm systems
Cosmological simulations and machine learning
Achieving climate-positive agriculture
Emerging infectious diseases: detection and prevention
Technology-enhanced education in the post-COVID era
Disability inclusion in the workplace

If you aren’t clear on what a research paper is, then you won’t get very far when writing one. A research paper is just as its name suggests — a form of academic writing that necessitates the independent investigation of a specified topic and reports the unique results of that investigation.

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Suny Empire State College provides a great and exhaustive explanation of what a research paper is.

In order to write a paper, you are required to formulate a research question. This is a question associated with your topic that acts as a guide during your research, enabling you to focus and provide unique arguments.

Before you can produce a research question, you have to choose from countless research topics available. Another useful thing to do would be checking out free sample research papers . With that in mind, let’s examine how you can discover some unique research paper topics.

✍️ How to Find Research Topics to Write About

The choice of a research paper topic can be influenced by a number of factors, including:

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The course for which the paper is assigned
Whether there is a topic assigned to you by the professor
Whether you are given a broad-spectrum subject area
How much freedom you are given to branch out and select a topic

Hopefully, you have been given some freedom of choice regarding academic paper topics. However, if you do have some choice in the matter, you might be speculating about how to narrow it down.

You are in luck!

There are a number of ways to effectively comb through the abundance of research paper topics and discover one that will work well for you. Here are some suggestions:

Ask your professor. Chances are your professor has some fabulous research paper ideas. You can also inquire with other university staff and graduate students for ideas. These people know your discipline well, which can work to your advantage.
Browse through scientific journals and research papers , but be sure to adhere to the most recent research possible. You will definitely find interesting ideas in published papers that would make great research paper topics.
Investigate other professional and government publications for research project ideas. Again, keep to the most recent publications within the last three to five years, if possible.
Browse through your library catalog to uncover the most interesting areas of study in your field.
Take notes everywhere you go! It doesn’t matter if you are in class listening to your professor, traveling, reading a magazine, or watching TV. Research paper ideas are absolutely everywhere! Write things down whenever you come across something unique and interesting, and you just might find a topic to pursue.

When it comes down to it, deciding on one of the many academic essay topics is the most substantial step of the process.

Once you have that narrowed down, you can focus your research and write a remarkable paper. Now, we want to give you some help. What follows is an extensive list of the most interesting research topics to get you started.

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Now that you have a good idea of how to search for college research paper topics, you are ready for some suggestions. You might like one of them right off the bat, or you might be inspired by a particular topic and write something related to it.

Want to know the best part?

By the time you are finished reading this academic topics list, you will feel much more equipped for writing your research paper. For even better result, have a brainstorming session with a research topic generator to introduce a bigger variety of options.

💻 IT Research Paper Topics

Perhaps some of the best college research topics these days are in the IT field. Explore one of these interesting ideas in your paper:

Has big data changed our lives for the better? Big data is a trendy study subject. Large IT companies use it for purposes such as advertising and logistics. However, it has also raised substantial privacy concerns over non-consensual data gathering. Are the benefits companies get by collecting your data worth them learning everything about you?
Neural networks are algorithms that can learn to solve problems. Both their name and method of learning are derived from how the human brain works. Can neural networks lead to the creation of a true AI? If so, how soon?
The current state of cryptography and how it may develop. The entire Internet’s security relies on a relatively small number of ciphers. If they were to be broken, the potential damage would be immeasurable. How likely is that to happen? What challenges are we likely to face in the future?
The pros and cons of transitioning to cloud technologies. Cloud services are very convenient for various purposes. They might not work as fast as physical devices, but they are portable, cheap, and very convenient. Should humanity switch entirely to cloud services?
What issues does automation raise, and how can they be solved? Robots don’t get tired and work very precisely. That’s why automation is great for business. Many manufacturing companies rely on robots heavily in their production. However, robots in the workplace mean fewer jobs for humans. When most blue-collar positions disappear, what will humanity do?
Should we keep using multi-factor authentication?
Are big tech companies monopolistic in their behaviors?
Is remote work the future of office jobs employment?
The pros and cons of software ownership vs. subscription models.
Explore the evolution of wireless communication standards and their implications.
Describe the Internet of things and its effects on security .
The issues of IPv4 and the adoption of IPv6.
How do computers manage to generate random numbers?
The infrastructure and contingencies of the World Wide Web .
Are computers entirely unbiased in their treatment of people?
Procedures to enhance IT security
New methodologies and challenges to IT management in health
Interrelation, patterns, and existing theories on behavior and IT
Common services center vs. community multimedia center: selecting the correct variety of IT service
Racial and gender issues in the IT domain
Innovative theories regarding computer imitation of a human being
The impact of digitization of medical records on the IT domain

🏺 Topics for your Research Project on History

Human history is full of exciting events, and despite what you might believe, not all of them have been explored. There are many incredible history research topics, such as:

The history of the Chinese Empire over the millennia. The Chinese Empire is rarely discussed in history classes as much as its Western counterparts. However, it existed for over two millennia, only falling in 1912. Many curious events happened in that time that merit discussion.
The Ottoman Empire and the Barbary slave trade. The word “barbarian” comes from the Barbary Coast in Africa. It was infamous for its pirates, who raided European vessels for loot and slaves. Only ending in the 19th century, this phenomenon can make for an interesting case study.
The rise and fall of Ancient Greek city-states. Ancient Greece is often viewed as mostly monolithic and united against threats. In fact, it was comprised of numerous city-states that fought as much as they cooperated. Research the region’s fascinating and nuanced history.
The effects of the printing press on the world . The printing press was invented in 1440 AD by Johannes Gutenberg. Before it, each copy of a book had to be written by hand. It limited the literature’s availability dramatically. What effects did mass production of books have on Europe and the world?
The fracturing of Christianity : causes and effects. Since its inception, Christianity has gone through multiple schisms. Some of them were remarkably violent. As a result, there are now three main Christian churches and a multitude of lesser ones. Explore what caused believers to split apart into Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Protestants.
The underlying causes of the World War I.
Provide a detailed history of the Hundred Years’ War and its results.
Holy Roman Empire : from successor to the Romans to a Nazi symbol.
Liberalism in national politics: emergence and evolution.
The history of the world as a series of conquests.
Were the Crusades motivated purely by religious devotion?
Why did Texas secede from Mexico to the United States?
Apartheid in South Africa and its heritage.
Centers of scientific activity throughout history.
How did China’s geography influence its history?
Palestine and the Golan Heights
Premises, progression, and consequences of the cold war
The most remarkable revolutions in history
Has Slavery transformed the development of the western world?
Could damage from the bubonic plague have been diminished?
Strange medieval family laws and their influence on society
Life in London in the 15th century
Religious cults in ancient societies

🧠 Psychology Research Paper Topics

Psychology has to offer plenty of interesting ideas for you to research. Just look through the discoveries made over the past decades, and you can understand that the human mind holds as many mysteries as the deep ocean.

It is why we would like to suggest a list of great experimental research topics in psychology. The science of human behavior is even more exciting when you can try your theories on practice.

If you still can’t decide on the topic for your research paper or thesis, just look through this collection of compelling proposals to give yourself an inspirational boost.

What is the correlation between personality and taste in literature? It’s obvious that people with similar interests get in groups. Does it mean that they have similar personalities, though?
Conformity in college and high school: a scientific approach. Check how your course mates tend to agree with others and don’t forget to write it down!
Do men and women have different short-term memory mechanisms? It’s quite easy to conduct an experiment, but be careful approaching it in terms of gender issues.
Optical illusions from the perspective of people with creativity skills. What if people who tend to be artistic and creative can see something in the common optical illusions that others can’t?
The gut feeling: how do you feel when others stare at you? Some studies showed that you are more likely to wake up in the night because someone is staring at you. It’s creepy, though…
Tricking the taste buds: how does smell affect the taste? How much can the smell of an onion confuse your sense of taste while you are eating an apple?
What is the Stroop Effect, and how does age influence it? Check whether the age of the participants influences their ability to name the colors.
Does having a symmetrical face make us seem more attractive? It is very rare that someone has perfectly identical left and right sides of the face. But how noticeable is it?
Analyze the capacity of the short-term memory of your peers. The easiest way is to measure it by memorizing words and comparing the numbers later.
Do people eat more popcorn when watching movies of a specific genre? Chewing something is almost a must-do in the cinema. But what type of movies triggers this behavior more than others?
What signs of social media addiction are noticeable in public? Spend some time in the local coffee shop, watching people on their phones, and note any signs of addiction they show.
The psychological effects of having breakfast: learning performance. Check if your course mates who have breakfast are more successful in learning than those who don’t.
Music vs. body: how does your body respond? Measure different biomarkers while listening to different types of music. Maybe you’ll find perfect motivational beats!
What color should your room be to improve your learning outcome? Blue is more calming than red, which is often used in sports halls. But what about boosting your learning abilities?
Favorite color as a result of childhood attraction. Try to trace the childhood memories of your friends. Maybe their favorite color is pink because they had pink walls in their room.
Biomarkers and colors: what is the correlation? Check how seeing different colors can stimulate specific responses from the body, for example, in heart rate.
Colors and mood: can the color of your bedsheets make your day? The first thing you see in the morning is quite important. How would a specific color affect your mood?
What is the correlation between stress levels and procrastination? There is a relation for sure, but does procrastination cause stress or the other way around?
How much can we trust the long-term memory ? Ask people to tell you about some random event from their past. Then, ask them to do the same later. Do the stories match?
Negative influences of sleep deprivation on social behavior. Track some students’ behavior when they don’t get enough sleep and see how it affects their relationship with others.
The origin of phobias and fears : engaging the monster within
Dreams : are they messages from within?
Mechanisms of thinking: it’s all in your head
Factors that influence behavior and character
Mechanisms of aggravating habits
The function of short- and long-term memory

Differences between long term short term and working memory.

Why people yearn for their past
What entices people to amass the most preposterous things?
Is autism a disease or a natural variation of the norm ?
The impact and outcomes of social networks and mental health
How memory works: recalling the essential
How depression impacts the immune system

American psychiatric association Definition of depression.

A phenomenon-oriented approach to the study of depression
How to manage post-traumatic stress disorder in children
Depression as a cause of celiac disease
Fighting depression with techniques to relieve anxiety
The consequences of depression and relationship problems
Eating behaviors in different cultures
How behavioral patterns develop
How to forecast and shape behavioral patterns
Differences and similarities in the behavioral patterns of diverse cultures
Is there a genetic link to optimism that can shape behaviors and attitudes?
The causes and consequences of insomnia
How to combat child violence

Violence in the lives of children report.

How defense mechanisms and behavioral patterns work
How bilingualism works: the secret of processing mechanisms
How fear-related beliefs fit into the cognition process
Following the cognitive process involved in anxiety disorders
How to fight emotional distress
Unusual mental health cases and cognition deviations
Applying psychological approaches to ethical reality
How motivation plays a role in human development
The shared elements of self-affiliation and self-determination
An examination of the causes and results of drug and alcohol abuse
New ideas regarding the peculiarities of rational and social development
How practicing a healthy lifestyle cures disease and promotes wellness
Conflict solution in parent-child relationships
Evaluating the challenges of preterm development in children
How to battle cognitive deficit in Parkinson’s disease
Is attention deficit disorder a neuropsychological problem?
Examining the process of making decisions and taking risks
The impact of music genres on how the brain works
How to fight childhood disorders
Shattering long-standing myths about ADHD
Intellectually gifted people: how is it possible?

🎓 Research Paper Topics on Education

Research project ideas around education are always changing. This has resulted in a wide range of research topics, such as:

Computers in classrooms: useful tool or obstacle to equality ? Computers have proved to be capable of improving many aspects of our lives. For instance, they allow children to interact with content instead of just consuming it. However, computers further the disparities between those who can and cannot afford one. Explore these factors in your research paper.
A review of potential methods for solving America’s education crisis. The US invests a substantial portion of its budget into education. However, the system’s equality is average at best. You can study proposals on how we may change its design for the better. Choose the most promising ones, or suggest one of your own.
Individualized vs. group learning : which is better suited for current reality? Every child’s learning should be tailored to their specific situation. Unfortunately, there are far more children than teachers. Answer these questions: is group learning the only available option despite its drawbacks? Can we reduce its shortcomings by blending the models?
Are standardized tests helpful or damaging to children’s education ? Standardized tests are convenient from a bureaucratic standpoint. They convert children’s learning into numbers that are easy to work with. But the practice is often criticized for prioritizing memorization over understanding. Should standardized tests be abandoned?
How should the education system approach children with special needs ? Special needs children have experienced a broad range of treatment throughout history. What are the current ideas on how to teach them? What are their special needs in an educational context, and how can schools satisfy them?
Are the world’s best education systems based on similar foundations?
How can schools help children maintain their mental health ?
What does equality of opportunity mean in the context of the school?
Review how the essential qualities of a teacher evolved since 2000.
Should every school student aim for higher education ?
What traits define an excellent teacher, and can they be cultivated?
Is homeschooling a viable alternative to public schools ?
The school choice debate in the US: arguments for and against.
Authoritative sources: what qualities make information available on the Internet valid?
Is cheating on tests an expression of an educational failure?
Where theory encounters reality in gender issues
Test anxiety with regard to contemporary methods of teaching
The effects of contemporary teaching methods
The mental process behind human learning
The interpretation of IQ test results
Should children be rebuked when they misbehave?
How to prevent bullying and harassment in schools

It is estimated that 160 000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students.

The creation of particular learning methods for blind children
Positives and negatives of contemporary methods of teaching and state-of-the-art innovations
The function of technology in lesson planning
Is there a one-size-fits-all strategy for education?

📺 Cultural Research Topics for Papers

Perhaps there is nothing more complex than human culture and how people have interacted with each other throughout history. For this reason, these cultural topics might be of interest to you:

Harlem Renaissance: how a single neighborhood created modern African American culture . In the 1920s, numerous African Americans moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York. Influenced by the ideas of thinkers such as W. E. B. Du Bois , they built the foundations of Black culture and art. How did this happen?
Is third-wave feminism still a movement for equality ? First-wave feminism gave women equal rights with men. Then the second wave started the fight with discrimination. However, third-wave feminism claims that the second wave failed, especially with regards to matters such as race and ethnicity. Are its claims valid, and what does it work to achieve?
Is the Western way of thinking the only correct one? Non-Western civilizations lay claim to different schools of thought that emphasize different viewpoints. Should Westerners adopt aspects of non-Western philosophical thought?
Are the factors that informed the Constitution still relevant? The Constitution was created in a different time than now. Some of its provisions, notably the Second Amendment , have been challenged repeatedly in recent years. Explore if the ideas of the Founding Fathers still apply today.
Should the postmodern school of art be considered art? Postmodern art is challenging to define in plain terms. Many people are confused when a seemingly random series of brush strokes sells for millions of dollars. Think of how such artworks fit into the history of art movements.
The impact of advertisements and commercials on how people comprehend the world
The implicit messages of mass media : what you see is what you get
How the most remarkable cultural achievements of the 20 th century influenced contemporary art
The repetition of cultural tendencies: the Greeks did it first
Social roles adults endorse to children via toys
Social models mass media bestows on teenagers and adults
Eating habits in dissimilar cultures
The origin of racial discrimination
The segmentation and integration of humans
The impact of AIDS on mankind
A new comprehension of past events
Unearthing a common language: divorce prevention and family therapy
Painting a portrait of the average American family
The roots of antisemitism and how it manifests today
A case against cruelty to living beings
An examination of the current job market and unemployment

🗣️ Argumentative Essay Topics

It is easy to find unique argumentative research paper topics. After all, we live in a crazy world in which all kinds of interesting things happen. Here are some suggestions:

Is the Electoral College a better system than the popular vote? The United States uses the unique Electoral College system for its presidential elections. Over the centuries, calls have been made to change it to the popular vote approach. So far, these attempts have been fruitless. In this debate, whose position has more merit?
Should the continued expansion of the government be reversed? Starting small, governments around the world took on more and more functions. As a result, they now guarantee the operation of many services. They also collect massive taxes and demonstrate bureaucratic inefficiencies. Is there a valid argument for privatizing most public services?
Should the US continue acting as the world’s peacekeeper? The US’s military is present in many areas around the world. Usually, they take the form of military bases and peacekeeping forces. However, its efforts often fail, with Iraq as a recent example . Should the nation continue spending its resources abroad?
Does the public or private healthcare produce better results for the cost? The US’s healthcare system is often criticized for its massive costs and underwhelming quality. There have been calls to both make it more private and more public. Which of the two approaches ensures a more affordable, efficient system?
Is teenage gender transition ethical? Recently, medical professionals in the US have started transitioning teenagers with gender dysphoria . Yet, some of them de-transition later. Should the practice continue regardless?
Political commitment and television
Should marijuana be legalized?
Can people of different races ever understand each other
Abusive relationships : where to draw the line on what relationships should Be allowed to exist
Are there realistic limitations on abortion ?
The many guises of violence in society
The impact of women on world history

Are social interactions possible without lies?
Dealing with overpopulation: can it be accomplished ethically ?
Torture : is it ever acceptable?
The ethics of using animals in research
Human dependence on computers : beneficial or harmful
Post-9/11 security measures : an invasion of privacy or good sense

Science is always bursting with new and exciting topics as we delve deeper into the mysteries of the universe and technology. Here are a few topic suggestions:

The potential of space resources and the technologies for extracting them. Space contains a vast quantity of resources, many of which are rare or expensive on Earth. Plans to use them have been arising for a long time. Can we implement any of them in the near future, and do they justify the costs?
Recent promising developments in cancer treatment and their validity. Cancer is a significant concern for humanity largely because it cannot be treated without harming the body. However, ideas such as targeted medications and imitations of whale biology have promised an end to this problem. Research them and assess their validity.
Large-scale recycling methods and their effectiveness in reducing waste . Most of the resources humanity uses are still on the planet in the form of waste. Some, such as fossil fuels, cannot be recovered, while metals and many others can. Is it possible to address resource scarcity through large-scale recycling? Is it economically viable?
Advantages and disadvantages of proposed thorium nuclear reactor designs. Thorium has been touted as the solution to the problems of uranium-based atomic reactors. It’s not as dangerous and produces less waste. Is it indeed superior, or should its issues prevent its use?
Potential benefits and issues of genetic modification . Genetic modification is broadly used but also criticized by many. It has its benefits, but critics argue that overreliance may lead to unexplored side effects. Are there reasons to believe these claims?
What cloning has in store for humanity : altering the personality
How nanotechnology will impact modern science
Will uranium isotopes precipitate the next scientific revolution?
How psychoactive drugs influence the central nervous system
Deafness and using echolocation
The role of erythropoietin and calcitriol in the human body
The process of feeling pain: treatment and pain relievers of the future
Is nuclear energy too hazardous to use?
Nuclear weapons : a responsibility for which no country is prepared
People’s impact on climate change : the cost of a technological breakthrough
Key issues and potential solutions for toxic waste disposal
Are the effects of global warming reversible ?
The future of NASA
Endangered species : causes and concerns
Black mold: the bathroom invasion

Just like science, health care is always changing, particularly as technology advances. With new discoveries in disease research and new technology being developed every day, the following topics are great examples of what you can write about in your paper:

Race and ethnicity-based differences in normal health indicators . People of different races and ethnicities tend to have varying normal health indicators. For example, African Americans tend to have a higher blood pressure than average. What causes such differences? Why do medical workers need to understand them?
The effects of the Affordable Care Act on American healthcare. The Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare , was introduced to improve health insurance’s affordability for disadvantaged people. However, the costs of insurance have grown since through premiums. Did Obamacare cause this increase, or did it happen independently?
Strategies for prevention of obesity and associated heart disease risks. Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States. Obesity, which is also prevalent in the nation, is associated with the condition. How can the healthcare system reduce the rates of obesity and associated heart disease?
For- or non-profit hospitals: which offer superior treatment? Both for- and non-profit hospitals are private entities. The former operate as businesses, while the latter only seek to cover their costs. Is the former’s drive to compete and lower prices preferable to the latter’s not charging a profit margin?
Mental health in the United States: issues and proposed solutions. Mental healthcare is a complicated topic. Many conditions are difficult to diagnose, and some are associated with stigma . Conflicts of interest often arise among psychiatrists, incentivizing them to diagnose fake conditions. How can mental health be improved in the US?
Should medicine be more focused on the prevention of illnesses or their treatment?
Is it possible to eliminate a disease forever?
The development of prosthetics: current technologies and promising ideas
Barriers to the adoption of electronic health systems and how to overcome them.
Sedentary behavior and sports: what are the health outcomes ?
Psychological treatment for adolescents: how to address their needs.
Caring for seniors: current problems and potential solutions.
US nursing shortage : causes and potential effects on the nation’s health.
The effects of circumcision on the health of newborn infants.
Analyze the experiences of children with autism in school and at home.
Should image scan radiation be reduced to a minimum level?
Health care and insurance: concerns and problems
The most likely outcomes of recent health care reform
Old theories and new methods of sports injury rehabilitation
A look at celebrities who have battled cancer
A comparison of conventional and alternative cancer treatments
How clean needle programs benefit society
The need for education on nutrition in school
The impact of diet on health

👔 Business Research Paper Topics to Write About

Business is a broad field, so there are plenty of topics you can write about, such as:

Best contemporary practice in green supply chain management for businesses. Green supply chain management aims to overturn the stereotype of polluting factories. Companies that adopt it seek to generate as little waste as possible and require their suppliers to do the same. What policies do researchers currently recommend for this purpose?
Corporate social responsibility : theoretical framework and practical implementations. Corporate social responsibility is an approach where a company seeks to give back to the community where it works. It’s a popular concept, often discussed in business schools. But how does it translate into practice?
The effects of different office arrangements on the productivity of employees . Offices have evolved substantially over the 20th century. Cubicles replaced isolated rooms, and today open offices are popular. Is there a meaningful difference between these different arrangements? Are the changes improvements or lateral movements?
Remote work and its effects on the operations of businesses. Remote work is more popular than ever. It seems convenient for workers, but some companies worry that they will stop being productive without oversight. Are their concerns reasonable?
A cross-cultural comparison of leadership styles . In the West, a number of leadership style theories have crystallized that are considered best. However, other regions use distinct approaches that work for them. They’re also not rushing to change to the Western model. Do Western styles work best everywhere, or are they limited to the appropriate mindset?
Social media marketing strategies and the determinants of success.
Compare the functions of administration and management.
Prevention of organizational misconduct: barriers and strategies.
Review the latest developments in performance management theory and practice.
What is the future of e-commerce business environments ?
Innovation in the workplace: current thought and generation methods.
How does outsourcing influence business performance?
Describe the effects of kaizen and total quality management on performance.
Discuss economic viability in corporations that operate at a loss.
Overtime work, employee well-being , and company performance.
Deliberating in the secrets of effective leadership
How time management influences the prosperity of a company
How to resolve a conflict between staff and management
The function of diversity in the workplace of the 21 st century
Management by walking around: effective or fruitless?
Should businesses be regulated: pros and cons
Social media and word-of-mouth in the digital age
How the digital age has transformed small businesses
How mobile technology is altering the workplace
The future of the franchise
How the millennial employee is transforming the workplace

📚 Literature Research Paper Topics

Sometimes, there is no surrogate for a great paper on literature, and with the changing world, there are always innovative ways to observe literature, even the classics. Here are a few topic suggestions:

The depiction of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby . Jay Gatsby first appears as an example of the American Dream. Starting poor, he becomes wealthy and popular in the city. However, he does not achieve his desires and stays unhappy. You can research how the novel criticizes the concept while also reinforcing its idea.
The evolution of Japanese literature in the Meiji Era. The Meiji Era began after the end of Japanese isolationism. Due to encountering new cultures, its art evolved rapidly. Writers such as Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Dazai Osamu created unique works. From what context did they emerge?
The traits of 20th century dystopian works . The worlds of Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, George Orwell , and others are bleak. However, they are all substantially different. Can you distinguish unifying themes in the stories that these writers tell?
How does literature reflect contemporary social issues? Writers often try to draw attention to problems of their time. Dickens wrote about the exploitation of the poor, and Langston Hughes discussed racial discrimination. Can this trend be traced across most literature?
Classic vs. modern poetry. Classical poetry follows a variety of rules, such as rhymes and stanza organization. Contemporary poets often reject these constraints and create works that are closer to prose in form. What caused this change?
Study the Four Great Works of Chinese Literature as cultural reflections.
Examine the influence of romantic tendencies on Walther Scott’s works.
What issues are raised in contemporary African literature?
Analyze Milton’s interpretation of Biblical myth in Paradise Lost .
What characterizes the depiction of war in Heller’s Catch-22 ?
Discuss real and fake loyalty in King Lear .
How was grotesque used in 19th century American Gothic fiction?
The Old Man and the Sea : Hemingway’s depiction of the unconquerable spirit.
How were gender issues depicted in 19th and 20th-century feminist literature?
Compare the themes of The Iliad and The Odyssey.
The innovative era: poets of the 21 st century
A dissection of the most illustrious novels in history
The hunger games: over and above pulp fiction
The future of copyright
An examination of racism in novels from the 1960s and 1970s
The perception of exile in literature
Culture and literature: which affects which?
An examination of homosexuality in literature

🗳️ Political Research Topics

The world of politics is ever-changing. Understanding the complex mechanisms that regulate our lives is challenging. That’s why a research paper is a great way to clarify the matter. Whether you’re interested in global or local affairs, this section has got you covered.

What is the origin and purpose of powers separation in government ? Most modern governments are separated into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Thus they limit each other to avoid government overreach. How was this system founded, and how does it work?
The structure of the legislation approval process in the US. Every bill has to be approved by the Congress , the Senate, and the President. What factors can hinder the process?
A comparison between the two-party system and multi-party nations. The US is often critiqued for its two-party system by nations that have numerous parties. With that said, a common counterargument is that American parties made of people with diverse views. How do the political climates of the US and multi-party democracies differ in practice?
The purpose and effectiveness of term limits for government positions. Some government positions, such as that of the President, are limited to a specific number of years. At the same time, jobs in the Congress and Senate are not. Discuss the purpose of term limits and say if they’re effective.
Pros and cons of globalism as a political philosophy. The concept of globalism requires worldwide bodies that supersede governments. It looks past nations and ignores their interest in favor of global benefits. Is this approach valid, or are there problems with it?
How does the European Union membership affect its countries?
Review the evolution of China’s political system in the 20th-21st centuries.
The threat of terrorism in a world without ISIS.
Discuss the issue of mass incarceration in the United States.
What were the causes of the Soviet Union’s collapse ?
Write about violations of human rights worldwide and their causes.
Examine the critiques of capitalism .
What are the political aims of the Black Lives Matter movement ?
Review the methods for effectively combating governmental corruption .
The issues of democracy and how to overcome them.
The American policy of intervention
The future of the European union
Causes of world hunger
Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction
The Justice system and juvenile criminals
Afghanistan—success or stalemate ?
Was media coverage of SARS adequate
The new world war: fighting terrorism
Same-sex marriage: are laws keeping up with changing attitudes?
BREXIT: good or bad?

Who says you can’t combine academia and entertainment? Great conclusions can come from fun research. The most important thing is to ask the right questions. Check out the following prompts and get inspired:

Parallel universes, their origins, and potential organizations. Numerous authors have imagined parallel universes. Even some quantum physics theories assert their existence. Are parallel universes slightly different versions of our world, or are they entirely distinct?
The theories and paradoxes of various time travel mechanisms. Time travel is a popular science fiction trope. It’s also associated with multiple contradictions, such as the grandfather paradox . How do science fiction authors try to overcome these problems?
The attempts to create the theory of everything. Physicists are trying to develop an approach that would explain everything in the universe. It doesn’t exist yet, as general relativity and quantum physics often contradict each other.
What are the possibilities and problems of interstellar travel? Without a method to travel much faster than light, expansion beyond the Solar System is impossible. If it becomes feasible, what possibilities can it offer?
The history of the moon landing conspiracy theory. The moon landing conspiracy theory asserts that the Apollo 11 mission didn’t occur, and the evidence was filmed on Earth. It tries to find various flaws in this evidence and use them to prove its illegitimacy. How did it emerge, and does it still exist?
Are people who claim to have extrasensory perception frauds?
Research stories of the supernatural based on facts.
What is the origin of the modern Santa Claus?
If an afterlife exists, what form does it take?
Does meditation have benefits for physical and mental health?
Did Nostradamus’s prophecies come to pass?
Why do some people believe the Earth is flat ?
Does Murphy’s Law always work?
Examine 19th-century occultism and its prominent leaders.
Alchemy and the quest for the Philosopher’s Stone.
How people are affected by the death of a game character
Challenges faced by people creating their own cartoon
Beloved comic strip characters and their influence on society
An examination of UFOs: fact or fiction
What if aliens do exist: the impact on humanity
Is there a differentiation between déjà vu and precognition?
The existence of spirits and how to communicate with them
Theories regarding the Bermuda triangle
Investigating alternative cosmology theories
Does fortune telling have a scientific basis?
Law of attraction: fact or fiction?
Men and women’s brain: what’s the difference?

👥 Sociology Research Paper Topics

As an additional interest for studies, a sociology research paper can be written with the purpose of learning this or that aspect of society’s life. You may use personal experience or continue the research started by other authors. Interesting research projects in this area can be based on the following topics:

Problems of the marriage and family: a divorce research paper . This article can study the relationship in different families and problems that can arise.
Observance of public behavior standards as the feature of the civilized society. You can describe modern social ideals.
Comparison of sociological laws in different historical epochs. In your paper, study the attitudes towards various social phenomena.
The influence of personality on public development and progress. You can describe the power of the personality and what one person can do to contribute to social development.
Opportunities for searching optimal criteria for the personality socialization . Such a paper aims at revealing the ways of how people can uncover their potential.
The society’s attitude to global problems : a global warming research paper and the impact of this phenomenon on people’s way of life. Describe this well-known ecological problem in your paper.
Cultural formation of the personality in the context of modern public reality. This type of work can be connected with describing the ways of people’s cultural development.
Attempts to socialize adolescents and people with deviant behavior . A research paper on this relevant topic should describe how people who are prone to criminal behavior can correct their way of life.
Ways of improving the microclimate in the work collective and creating conditions for comfortable work. The theme aims at finding optimal techniques to improve relationships among employees.
Equality problems in society. A paper on this topic should uncover modern problems connected with inequality and various forms of racism.
Explore the causes of poverty in disadvantaged communities around the US.
Review the health and education outcomes of children raised in single-parent families .
What are the effects of social media on users’ mental health?
Look into the presence of gender stereotypes in popular culture.
What are the effects of mass immigration on communities and nations?
Study the effects of lockdown-related social isolation on mental health.
Is the Internet an adequate replacement for face-to-face communication ?
Research the causes of bullying and potential strategies for its prevention.
What’s the status of LGBT communities in nations around the world?
The effects of juvenile convictions on one’s life prospects.
Write about the American population’s views on the dangers of pollution .
Explore the stigma and social acceptance issues associated with transgender status.
How does cyberbullying affect one’s health ?
Review the Internet’s influence on education .
Assess the rationale of policies that restrict citizen reproduction.
Research your community’s views on the concept of privacy .
Health and education outcomes of children raised in same-sex families.
Explore intergenerational differences in views on social topics.
How do views on freedom of speech vary among people of different social categories?
Make a case study on the prevalence of workplace gender discrimination in your community.

It is essential to remember that a good research paper on the subject of sociology will be appreciated by readers if you study a specific social phenomenon in detail, carry out statistical analysis, and perform a number of important procedures. The purpose of a research paper in this field is to cover current public issues, reveal important aspects of various problems, and, if possible, offer optimal solutions. This science requires concrete and well-grounded answers. Any deviations and ambiguous arguments can be regarded as an author’s incompetent attempt to investigate a complex topic.

With all of these topics at your disposal, you might still be feeling a little overwhelmed. However, they are divided into categories to make choosing one easier. It might also be helpful to look at some great research paper samples .

Composing a research proposal can sometimes be a part of a big study. If you not only want to describe a specific problem or to convey an idea to your readers, but also expect to promote your personal theory and receive the approval of a respected scientific community, it’s necessary to choose a topic which allows you to present your own ideas. Different types of writing can be included in this category: an analytical research paper, work on identifying the best ways and techniques for a particular topic, etc. The preparation of research proposal articles has some nuances, and the following topics can be studied:

The way to conduct optimal trade relationships. Review appropriate techniques and offer specific methods to improve the situation in a particular company.
The advantages of electronic management systems. This theme will be connected with describing the merits of modern ways of managing specific spheres of production.
Useful innovations in modern life . Research paper subjects can be different: medicine, sociology, business, etc.
The best management techniques: methods of control . A paper on this topic should describe the behavioral features of successful managers.
The implementation of nursing theories in practice. The research paper proposal should have an appropriate scientific basis and describe corresponding medical issues.
Best practice in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis .
What challenges are associated with the nationwide adoption of the DNP standard?
Research current developments in palliative care for senior patients.
Are there differences in leadership and management styles between genders?
Assess the effects of tutoring on the educational attainment of school children.
Compare the preferred management styles in different cultures.
How do different states’ populations view the legalization of marijuana ?
Write about the underlying causes of Ancient Rome’s fall.
Challenges in the adoption of electronic health records in medical facilities.
What are the potential vulnerabilities of the AES-256 encryption standard?
Research the link between loyalty to a company and career growth .
How did Dante’s Inferno influence Christian depictions of Hell?
A case study of Singaporean government and its economic policies.
Review the financial environment and economic growth of Hong Kong .
Causes and implications of the human waste issues in San Francisco.
Assess the prevalence of smoking in the United States.
Study the beneficial effects of early childhood musical education on later development.
The philosophical and political underpinnings of the French Revolution .
What are the effects of successful social media marketing campaigns on videogame sales?
How did Confucian writings influence Chinese political thought?

The video below provides detailed instructions on how to write a research proposal. It is crucial to follow these rules so that the article to be up-to-date and properly formatted. Any attempts to bring something new are generally welcome; however, it is important not to forget about established rules.

👩‍⚕️ Nursing Research Paper Topics

A nursing research paper is an academic article that has specific format requirements. Citation rules in particular are very important, for example, an APA research paper format . In order to write a perfect paper and conduct high-quality research, follow the formatting rules and use any of these topics:

Nursing techniques to care for patients in intensive care units. The summary of your research paper can include a description of the best practical methods.
How do you implement nursing theories ? Your paper can consist of the enumeration of specific nursing theories and the ways of their implementation in practice.
Patients’ education and useful materials. The theme aims at discovering the best educational materials that would be suitable for patients.
Ideas on how to achieve a better quality of nursing care . You can offer various interpretations of this topic in your research paper.
Experienced researchers’ opinions on improving the state of nursing in hospitals. Use the ideas of different authors and don’t forget to follow the citation rules.

Patient-oriented type of care and its advantages. This scientific research essay can reveal the merits of a specific nursing approach.
Potential risks for nurses in the workplace. Both a junior research paper and a senior research paper of this theme should competently describe all possible dangers that medical employees can face.
Care for people of different social backgrounds. If this research paper is written in English, it should uncover the ways how to care for people speaking other languages and having different cultural and social levels of development.
Do nurses need additional stimuli to improve their qualifications? You can write many interesting research papers on this topic, and all of them can include lists of possible bonuses and incentives for nurses.
The necessity for nurses’ additional education. A paper on this topic can describe subjects suitable for nursing education.
How do you promote healthy eating practices in disadvantaged communities through educational programs?
Research ways of providing preventative care for veterans affected by PTSD .
Review the strategies of organizing nurse shifts to maximize the quality of care in understaffed conditions.
Study cases of patient violence toward nurses in the intensive care unit.
Preventing pressure ulcers in immobile patients.
Ways of implementing quality improvement in nursing units .
What cultural competencies and challenges are typically encountered in nursing care?
Review the methods for controlling delirium in the intensive care unit .
Propose adjustments in sexual education to spread awareness of STD risks in same-sex relationships.
Suggest interventions to prevent falls in patients staying at home.
What are the issues of advanced practice nursing in different countries?
Strategies for remaining productive under pressure as a nurse.
Research alternatives to prescribing patients with infections antibiotics that bypass resistance.
How to design effective interventions for child obesity rates reduction.
Explore using exercise to maintain the physical well-being of hospital patients.
What interventions can reduce alcoholism rates in your community?
Analyze the implementation of evidence-based practice in nursing facilities.
Ethical standards and issues that arise in the nursing profession.
Review the methods of providing holistic care to patients.
The dangers associated with telemedicine in medical-surgical nursing.

The compliance with the specific research project ideas will allow you to write a high-quality paper and will give you the opportunity to conduct research at a high level. Having completed the document, you can summarize and identify its crucial points. Following the rules of formatting is an integral part of working on any academic text.

🎨 Research Project Topics on Art

In the process of writing research articles, it is necessary to adhere to a certain topic. You can choose any theme you want. A research paper will be successful if you stick to your topic and provide a real search for optimal ways of solving a particular issue. There are a few suggestions that can be helpful in the process of writing. If we talk about such an interesting sphere as the world of art, themes can be as follows.

How is ideology reflected in architecture? Naturally, ideologies are largely represented in media, but they also influence architecture in many ways. You can study this topic at several points in time.
How does photography represent reality? In this paper, you can discuss if photography reflects reality, interprets it, or constructs it.
The significance of linear perspective . If you draw a linear perspective on a flat surface, you will create the illusion of depth. Discuss how this magic trick works in your paper!
Art and the unconscious mind. It’s an excellent topic that lets you explore psychology. Try to answer the questions of how the unconscious mind influences the creation and perception of art.
The evolution of horror movies . This film research paper topic covers everything from silent films to modern horror movies. You can discuss the influence of film noir on the genre, literary works that influenced it, the concept of “suspense,” and so on.
Physiological aesthetics in Surrealism. It is a known fact that Surrealists were inspired by psychoanalysis and dream imagery. You can explore this topic in a paper or use it for a presentation!
Deconstruction in architecture. The philosophical movement of deconstructivism influenced many spheres of life and art, including architecture. It allowed the creation of seemingly nonsensical forms and environments.
Sociology of fine art. This is a relatively new branch of sociology, which deals with arts and social structures of their production. It also includes political trends that influence art, consumerism, and other social phenomena.
Jewelry as sculpture. This topic lets you explore fantastic avant-garde jewelry and how contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons use it to create sculptures.
The discourse of Modernist painting in the 1950s. This topic covers experimental and abstract paintings of artists who rejected the realistic approach. Mention political agendas that influenced modernism in the ’50th.
Abstract Expressionism. Here you can discuss postwar artists such as Rothko and Pollock , as well as their predecessors Ernst and Kandinsky.
Andy Warhol’s influence on art. This art research paper topic covers not only pop art, but also films, music, aphorisms, the concept of “superstars,” and other aspects of Andy Warhol’s influence.
The art of street photography. Street photography is usually spontaneous, which helps to create realistic and powerful imagery. Write about the art of photographing urban landscapes and the most influential candid photographers.
The history of animation . Techniques preceding animation have existed long before the invention of cinematography. Puppetry, shadow play, magic lantern – all these things relate to animation in one way or another.
Are video games art? This idea seemed impossible in the past, but now many video games are considered art for their use of imagery, music, and compelling narrative.
Art as a form of protest. This includes protests against tradition or political causes. You may also talk about the role of art in bringing about a change in society.
Renaissance sculpture. This topic is just as interesting as the Renaissance painting. During that period, the art of sculpture had reached its peak. Sculptors of the Renaissance were influenced by Ancient Greek sculptures , as well as by Humanism.
Relationship between architecture and environment. Here you can discuss eco-friendly or “ green” architecture .
Modern ceramics as an art form. In the last decade, ceramics became a very popular art form. From prehistoric pottery to intricate porcelain forms – ceramics is a great medium that can often be compared to sculpture.
Science fiction in cinema. The earliest science fiction films were created back in the late 19th century by Georges Melies. In 1927, Fritz Lang’s silent film Metropolis revolutionized science fiction cinema. Explore it in your research paper!
The peculiarities of Da Vinci’s masterpieces. The paper will reflect the talent of the great European master and describe his Best Works.

5 most famous artworks by Leonardo Da Vinci.

The trends of art in Medieval Europe. The topic should uncover modern trends in the art of the Middle Ages and include the description of some styles; it can the article of any format, even a 10-page research paper. The main thing is to fully reveal all the distinctive features of that epoch.
The history of European Art in the 20th century . The research can be devoted to some trends in the previous century.
The most outstanding artists in the world’s history. The paper should tell about the most famous artists of all the epochs.
Why do people appreciate art? This article can include your own ideas concerning the subject.
How do artists reflect their talent today? Your task is to try to study the methods that modern artists use to attract the audience.
Skills that a professional artist should possess. The aim of this article is to study some skills that should be necessary for the work of the artist. Regardless of whether you write research papers for sale or not, you should try to express not only well-known ideas but also your personal point of view.
Is it possible to develop artistic talent? Try to express your ideas concerning the opportunity for mastering proper skills.
The benefits of cooperation with other artists. This topic touches upon probable advantages that artists can gain when cooperating with their colleagues.
Themes that are the best for the canvas. You can develop a number of research abstract topics on this theme and convey the best motives to paint that seem the most successful for you.
The absence of inspiration. The theme should reveal what authors should do to develop their inspiration.
Chronological order of art development in the world. It is a rather accurate paper that should mention the most significant stages of art development.
Do people appreciate the work of artists? You could try to study the audience’s attitude toward artists’ work.
The methods to attract young people to art. The topic is connected with a social issue and aims at popularizing art in masses.
Do artists need additional knowledge? This theme implies for describing the necessity of education among all the professions, including artists and other creative posts.

🎼 Music Research Topics

Every culture has its distinct music. For many people, music is an integral part of everyday life. Film and theater productions use it to steer our emotions. When writing about music, you can choose from an endless number of ideas to research. Here are some examples:

Music as a ritual. Back in prehistoric times, music was considered to be a powerful ritualistic practice. Some mythologies even include stories about gods introducing the art of music to humans.
Early polyphony in Christian Europe. The earliest choral music was mostly performed in a single melodic line. See how it changed when more melodic lines were added.
Indian ethnomusicology . This interesting music research topic is concerned with the peculiarities of Indian music culture. You can include the discussion of how Indian music influenced psychedelic rock in the ’60s.
Jazz performance and improvisation. The element of spontaneity is very important in jazz performance, and improvisation is its key component.
Medieval troubadours and their legacy. Troubadours were poets who sang their own music and played instruments. Their performances differed greatly from the traditional church music of that time.
Ecomusicology of North America. This research topic allows you to discover the ways in which American landscape and nature influenced music, including Native American music, folk music, and modern songwriters.
Baroque music . During the Baroque era, many important features of modern music were introduced. You can choose this topic if you like grandiose, dramatic, or playful classical music.
The classical period in music. This period followed the after the Baroque and was very different from it. You can recognize it by simple structures and minimalistic arrangements. Many of the world’s greatest composers, such as Mozart and Beethoven, lived during the Classical era.
Classical music of the 20th century. Over the course of the previous century, the music styles were changing like never before. Still, classical music survived, while also transforming itself in accordance with times.
Music therapy for children. In this exciting music research topic, you can discover how music is used to help children with developmental dyspraxia, autism, ADHD, and other disorders.
Music and sound in film. Discover for yourself the art of scoring – from improvised piano arrangements of early movies to modern stereo surround sound.
The history of Italian opera. The Italian language played a key role in the formation of classical singing techniques. This includes opera – an art form that unites music and singing with storytelling.
The 20th-century music industry. This topic is centered on various ways of recording and selling music. Vinyl records, wax cylinders, cassette tapes, and CDs – 20th-century technology allowed turning music into a business.
The birth of pop music. The history of popular music begins in the 1950s. The term refers to the songs appealing to a large audience, as opposed to classical or jazz music. You can discuss the elements of early pop music that made it so accessible.
The ideology and aesthetics of punk rock. Punk rock was enormously influential in the 1970th. Its philosophy of anti-conformity appealed to young people of post-war Britain and the USA.
The musicology of electronic music. This exciting topic covers the earliest repetitive devices such as Hammond organ, early experimentations with electronics, the first use of computers and synthesizers in songwriting, and more!
Sampling in electronic music: context and aesthetics. Sampling is a very interesting technique that allows using audio fragments in different contexts. It can be used for aesthetic or political reasons, or as a cultural commentary.
What is a sound sculpture? A combination of an art object and music, sound sculptures are exciting to research. You can use this topic for presentation and demonstrate sound sculptures in action!
Dadaism and music. Dadaist ideas of randomness and paradox influenced art as well as music. Discuss the noise compositions and avant-garde sonic experiments that influenced the latter half of the 20th century.
Robotic musical instruments. You may think that robots playing music is a relatively new idea, but in fact, they date back to ancient times.

✍️ Creative Writing Research Topics

There are more rules to creative writing than one might think. For example, narratives should be coherent, and world-building has to follow certain logic. Analyzing these peculiarities brings you one step closer to becoming a better writer.

The role of reality within the psychological thriller genre. Psychological thrillers often aim at distorting or questioning reality. Study the ways in which this idea manifests in different narratives.
Graphic novels and their peculiarities. In modern times comic books are no longer considered to be just for entertainment, and graphic novel format is used to produce award-winning narratives.
Writing about the past : historical research and archaeology. When your narrative takes place in the distant past, you need to do extensive research to represent the time period properly. One way to do it is to turn to archaeology.
What is the role of landscape in supernatural narratives? Supernatural narratives rely on the atmosphere to evoke the feeling of uncanny. The setting and landscape are especially important to the writes of the supernatural genre.
How to write engaging crime fiction? This topic includes the ways of building suspense, the use of “red herrings,” complex character development, and other tips.
Digital storytelling. Here you can explore how to present your narrative in interactive digital form. It can be a video game, a visual novel, or a walking simulator.
Writing about the future. When you write about the past, you already know the characteristics of an epoch. But how do you invent the attributes of the future? Discuss it in your paper!
The influence of the author’s personal life on their writing. People often want to learn more about their favorite writers in the hope to understand their work better. But is there really such a connection between one’s personal and creative lives?
The role of diaries in creative writing . Almost all writers keep diaries. Sometimes the diaries are published and used in research or literary analysis. But how do authors themselves use their diary entries?
Creative writing for children. This excellent creative writing research topic deals with the ways of teaching children how to create their own narratives. You can discuss why writing is beneficial for children and how you can encourage them to be creative.
The art of teaching poetry . Poetry is one of the most exciting art forms that never gets old. However, not everybody appreciates poetry right away. See how you can change it!
What is the role of nature in romantic literature? Romantic artists and writers took lots of inspiration from nature, using it as a metaphor for one’s life and feelings.
The role of authorial intent. Some readers think that it’s essential to know what the author wanted to say in their literary work. Others believe that it’s one’s personal interpretation that matters the most.
A persona in poetry. The lyrical subject is someone who narrates a poem. Some people see it as the manifestation of the author, and others as a fictitious character. And what do you think?
Degrees of realism in fiction . When writing a work of fiction, some writers use excessive descriptions, while others keep things relatively minimalistic. Discuss the positive and negative sides of these approaches.
Forms of structure in films and novels: a comparison. Here you can compare different forms of narrative structures used in cinema and literature, such as linear and non-linear narratives, the use of flashbacks, and so on.
How to write a comedy. Comics say that making people laugh is much harder than to make them cry. Discuss what makes a literary work funny, and how one can write effective comedy.
The recontextualization of Hamlet . Recontextualization is a process by which something (e.g., a character) is taken from one context and introduced into another context. You can explore this notion through different recontextualizations of Shakespeare’s character Hamlet.
Writing a dystopia . See what techniques you can use when writing a narrative set in a bleak society.
Monomyth in literature. This exciting topic deals with the concept of “hero’s journey,” which serves as a basis for nearly all myths as well as countless works of fiction.

🎈 Other Research Paper Topics

You still haven’t found what you were looking for? This section might have what you need! Here you’ll find all kinds of topics. From psychology over physics to sociology, we compiled the most engaging ideas for you.

American teenagers–can they be called new species?
William Shakespeare : was this man the author of famous plays and sonnets?
Do you have any ideas about the field circles?
Black magic. Does it exist?
Censorship and its role in forming a society
The phenomenon of the penny press in the USA
Symbolism in literature
Alcatraz and its famous fugitives
Major sources of stress
Government grants–how do they work?
Election falsification: is it commonly used, and what are its main techniques?
Genetic engineering and your point of view on it
Stem cell research
What is a black hole ?
Loch Ness monster and your attitude towards this mystery
Joan of Arc –did she manage to escape the fires of Inquisition?
Do some research on techniques of brainwashing
Who invented the radio ?
There is a belief that American astronauts didn’t step on the Moon. Did they?
American international policy
Unique people who changed the world
Genius ideas that made their inventors famous and wealthy
Is education a necessary factor to become successful in today’s world?
Differences between the high school systems in the USA and Japan
Schindler’s list : the importance of moral roles over wealth
Educational programs’ impact on professional careers
Why do college students from all over the world come to the USA to pursue further education?
Examples of crop circles: Fake or real?
Humanity’s technological achievements in 2020

John Brunner quote: “It’s supposed to be automatic, but actually you have to push this button”

The importance of outlines in books and articles
Web-designers seem to be using the same template in their works
Exciting inventions of humankind in the nearest future
Modern students do not know how to do their homework without access to the Internet
The original cover page of the Holy Bible
The development of the MLA style
The cradle of psychology
Controversial policies of the USA and the USSR
How abortion affects a woman’s organism
What did Homer write about his lifestyle?
Famous people in the world’s history that did not exist
Would people have become what they are today without science ?
Parts of the world that will always remain uninhabited
Philosophical questions that humanity cannot answer for centuries
Medical stereotypes around the world
Will global warming ruin America’s economic system?
The USA government should be thankful for the mass immigration
The majority of scientific works are useless
Things to research in the sphere of modern gadgets
Should sociology make people happier?
The lack of pure water sources on Earth
The environment’s effect on human health
Humanity’s steps towards eco-friendly products, cities, and vehicles
Sherlock Holmes’ analytical mind and deduction skills
Should parents teach their children how to make the world better for other people?
Is business the only way to become wealthy in Third World countries ?
Analysis of William Shakespeare’s literary language
Does a title tell everything about a book’s context?
The Great Wall: A legendary monument or China’s income source?
Should families report to the police that their relatives are guilty of something?
The first websites, available on the World Wide Web
New challenges to the society introduced by social media
If you created your government, what would you do for your citizens?
What career options are prevalent in modern societies?
Chemistry in people’s everyday life
Is there any person on Earth, whose life is considered to be easy?
Is bribery acceptable for criminal justice?
The most popular sports in Britain
The population biology of India
Basic nursing knowledge of everyday life
Renaissance literature in France
Think of a technology that would make our atmosphere cleaner
Development of different animals after forty days on Noah’s Ark.
What will the food be like in a hundred years?
Socialization of children with autism
The medieval art of Scandinavian people
Different ways to save Earth’s environment from pollution
Depression in adolescents: reasons and outcomes
The importance of computer science in today’s world
Coca-Cola marketing strategies

Express your opinion on people’s purpose in life on Earth
How do early childhood memories and experiences influence our lives?
The history of video games era
Regulation of bullying in schools by law
Drugs industry in California, New Mexico, and Texas
The most prevalent economic issues in Greece after joining the EU
China’s rapid growth: is it going to become the first country in the world?
Global dangers that influence our planet’s ecology
Significant changes in the American media since the 1970s
What makes medicine an interesting subject to study?
The main factors to consider while conducting qualitative research

There are so many resources out there that will help you choose a topic and write an outstanding paper. This video gives you a bunch of topics for research papers, which means you now have even more from which to choose!

There is no doubt that writing a research paper is a daunting task.

If you feel you need help, even if you have managed to choose a topic, you can always hire a custom writing service to help you produce a fabulous research paper of which you will be proud and will guarantee you a good mark.

Whether you choose to write it on your own or get some help, we wish you luck writing your paper!

🤔 Research Topics FAQ

There are literally thousands of topics to choose from. “Biomarkers and colors: what is the correlation?” is a great topic on psychology. Should businesses be regulated: pros and cons is an exciting business research topic. Finally, Art as a form of protest is an art research topic worth exploring.

The first option is to ask your professor. Then you can browse through scientific journals and take a look at your library catalog. The final option for those who search for a creative idea is to take notes everywhere. Write things down while traveling, watching TV, and reading.

The Big Bang theory, Dwarf galaxies, and Supernova Astronomy are just a few of numerous astronomy research topics. Genetically modified organisms, Neurobiology of sleep, and Rainforest conservation are exciting research biology research topics. Artificial intelligence, Computer modeling, and Voice recognition are trendy computer science topics.

There are numerous exciting topics in various education research areas. Some of them are: Ability grouping, Computer literacy, Early childhood education, Multiculturalism, Parental involvement, Sex education, Violence in schools, and Virtual classrooms.

🔗 References

APA Sample Paper
Painting Movements in the 20th Century Topic
The Discovery Themes Initiative at The Ohio State University
Quantitative Research in Education
Quantitative Research Works, Indiana University
Organizing Academic Research Papers: Choosing a Title
Research Topics, The University of Arizona
Research Topic Ideas, University of Michigan-Flint
National Archives—Research by Topic
Jet Propulsion Laboratory—Research Topics List
Global Health Research Topics
National Institute of Justice—Topics
National Institute of Standards and Technology—Topics
Research Topics at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research & Development
National Institutes of Health—A to Z Topics Index
Evaluating Print Sources
Working With Sources
Developing a Thesis
Psychiatry: Medscape
Information Technology: NIST
Topics: History.com
Research Programs: National Center for Education Research
Recent Computer and Education Articles: Elsevier
Basic Guide to Cross-Cultural Research: Yale University
Cultural Anthropology: Britannica
Top Physical and Tech News: Science Daily
Health Topics: National Institute of Mental Health
PhDs in Business & Management: Five Hot Research Topics: Top Universities
Research and Focus Areas in Business and Government: Victoria University of Wellington
Modern Literature: University of Portsmouth
Research Areas: Political Science: Florida University
Sociology Research Areas: Cornell University
Focus Areas: Nursing Research: Mayo Clinic
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HBR’s Most-Read Research Articles of 2022

Dagny Dukach

Insights on equity, leadership, and becoming your best self.

The new year is a great time to set ambitious goals. But alongside our plans for the future, it’s also helpful to acknowledge all the challenges we’ve faced — and the progress we’ve made — in the last 12 months. In this end-of-year roundup, we share key insights and trends from HBR’s most-read research articles of 2022, exploring topics from embracing a new identity to fostering equity in the workplace and beyond.

For many of us, the arrival of a new year can be equal parts inspiring and daunting. While the promise of a fresh start is often welcome, it’s also a reminder of all the challenges we faced in the last 12 months — and all those still awaiting us, that we have yet to overcome.

Dagny Dukach is a former associate editor at Harvard Business Review.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
Should graduate students be able to form unions?

What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
How does stress affect the body?
Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
What were the causes of the Civil War?
How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
What caused Hitler's rise to power?
Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
What are the pros and cons of fracking?
What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
How are black holes created?
Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
Has social media made people more or less connected?
What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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500 Good Research Paper Topics

Bonus Material: Essential essay checklist

Writing a research paper for a class and not sure how to start?

One of the most important steps to creating a great paper is finding a good topic!

Here’s a hand-drafted list from a Princeton grad who has helped professors at Harvard and Yale edit their papers for publication and taught college writing at the University of Notre Dame and .

What’s more, we give you some foolproof formulas for creating your own paper topic to fit the requirements of your class.

Using these simple formulas, we’ve helped hundreds of students turn a B- paper topic into an A+ paper topic.

Keep reading for our list of 500 vetted research paper topics and our magic formulas for creating your own topic!

Of course, if you want help learning to write research papers tailored to your individual needs, check out our one-on-one writing coaching or academic writing workshop . Set up a free consultation to see how we can help you learn to write A+ papers!

Jump to paper topics in:

European & Mediterranean History

African history, asian history, history of the pre-columbian americas.

Latin American History

History of Science

Politics & public policy, education & education policy, political theory, science policy.

Health Sciences & Psychology

What is a research paper?

In order to write a good research paper, it’s important to know what it is!

In general, we can divide academic writing into three broad categories:

Analytical: analyze the tools an author uses to make their point
Research: delve deeply into a research topic and share your findings
Persuasive : argue a specific and nuanced position backed by evidence

What’s the difference between an analytical paper and a research paper? For an analytical paper, it’s okay to just use one or two sources (a book, poem, work of art, piece of music, etc.) and examine them in detail. For a research paper, however, the expectation is that you do, well . . . research .

The depth of research that you’re expected to do will depend on your age and the type of class you’re taking.

In elementary or middle school, a “research paper” might mean finding information from a few general books or encyclopedias in your school library.

In high school, your teachers might expect you to start using information from academic articles and more specific books. You might use encyclopedias and general works as a starting point, but you’ll be expected to go beyond them and do more work to synthesize information from different perspectives or different types of sources. You may also be expected to do “primary research,” where you study the source material yourself, instead of synthesizing what other people have written about the source material.

In college, you’ll be required to use academic journals and scholarly books, and your professors will now expect that you be more critical of these secondary sources, noticing the methodology and perspectives of whatever articles and books you’re using.

In more advanced college courses, you’ll be expected to do more exhaustive surveys of the existing literature on a topic. You’ll need to conduct primary research that makes an original contribution to the field—the kind that could be published in a journal article itself.

For a walkthrough of the 12 essential steps to writing a good paper, check out our step-by-step guide .

Working on a research paper? Grab our free checklist to make sure your essay has everything it needs to earn an A grade.

Get the essential essay checklist

What makes a good research paper topic?

One of the most important features of a research paper topic is that it has a clear, narrow focus.

For example, your teacher may assign you to write a research paper related to the US Revolutionary War. Does that mean that your topic should be “the US Revolutionary War”?

Definitely not! There’s no way to craft a good paper with in-depth research with such a broad topic. (Unless you’re in elementary or middle school, in which case it’s okay to have a more general topic for your research paper.)

Instead, you need to find a more specific topic within this broader one. There are endless ways that you can make this narrower! Some ideas generated from this one broader topic might be:

Causes of the US Revolutionary War
Changes in military strategy during the Revolutionary War
The experiences of Loyalists to England who remained in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War
How the Revolutionary War was pivotal for the career of Alexander Hamilton
The role of alliances with France during the US Revolutionary War
The experiences of people of color during the Revolutionary War
How George Washington’s previous military career paved the way for his leadership in the Revolutionary War
The main types of weaponry during the Revolutionary War
Changes in clothing and fashion over the courses of the Revolutionary War
How Valley Forge was a key moment in the Revolutionary War
How women contributed to the Revolutionary War
What happened in Amherst, Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War
Field medicine during the Revolutionary War
How the Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War
How different opinions about the Revolutionary War were reflected in poetry written during that time
Debates over abolition during the Revolutionary War
The importance of supply chains during the Revolutionary War
Reactions to the US Revolutionary war in Europe
How the US Revolutionary war impacted political theory in England and France
Similarities and differences between the US Revolutionary War and the French Revolution
Famous paintings inspired by the US Revolutionary War
Different ways that the US Revolutionary War has been depicted in modern contemporary culture
The appropriation of the “Boston Tea Party” by US politicians in the 2010s

This list could go on forever!

good research paper topics about the US Revolution

In fact, any of these topics could become even more specific. For example, check out the evolution of this topic:

Economic causes of the Revolutionary war
The way that tax policies helped lead to the Revolutionary War
How tax laws enacted 1763–1775 helped lead to the Revolutionary War
How the tax-free status of the British East India Company helped lead to the Revolutionary War
How the 1773 tax-free status of the British East India Company helped lead to the Revolutionary War, as reflected in letters written 1767–1775
How the 1773 tax-free status of the British East India Company helped lead to the Revolutionary War, as reflected in letters written by members of the Sons of Liberty 1767–1775

As you advance in your educational career, you’ll need to make your topic more and more specific. Steps 1–3 of this topic might be okay in high school, but for a college research paper steps 4–7 would be more appropriate!

As you craft your research paper topic, you should also keep in mind the availability of research materials on your subject. There are millions of topics that would make interesting research papers, but for which you yourself might not be able to investigate with the primary and secondary sources to which you have access.

Access to research materials might look like:

To the best of our knowledge, the sources exist somewhere
The source isn’t behind a paywall (or you or your school can pay for it)
Your school or local library has a copy of the source
Your school or local library can order a copy of the source for you
The source is in a language that you speak
The source has been published already (there’s tons of amazing research that hasn’t been published yet, a frustrating problem!)
You can access the archive, museum, or database where the primary source is held—this might mean online access or travel! To access a source in an archive or museum you’ll often need permission, which often requires a letter of support from your school.

If you’re not sure about access to source materials, talk to a librarian! They’re professionals for this question.

Finally, pick a research topic that interests you! Given that there are unlimited research topics in the world and many ways to adapt a broad topic, there should absolutely be a way to modify a research topic to fit your interests.

Want help learning to write an amazing research paper? Work one-on-one with an experienced Ivy-League tutor to improve your writing skills or sign up for our bestselling academic writing workshop .

Insider tips to generate your own research paper topic

Use these formulas to generate your own research paper topics:

How did X change over a period of time (year, decade, century)?
What is the impact (or consequences) of X?
What led to X?
What is the role of X in Y?
How did X influence Y?
How did X become Y?
How was X different from Y?
How is X an example of Y?
How did X affect Y?
What were some reactions to X?
What are the most effective policies to produce X result?
What are some risks of X?
How is our current understanding of X incorrect? (advanced)
What happens if we look at X through the lens of Y theory or perspective? (advanced)

A good research paper topic often starts with the question words—why, how, what, who, and where. Remember to make it as specific as possible!

Good research paper topics

These research paper topics have been vetted by a Princeton grad and academic book editor!

How did European rivalries (British vs French) impact North American history?
What was the role of British and French alliances with indigneous tribes during the Seven Years’ War?
Reactions to the 1754 Albany Congress among North American intellectual figures
How the Albany Plan served as a model for future attempts at union among the North American colonies
How did different religious identities (Calvinist, Catholic, etc.) play a role in the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War?
What were the consequences of the 1763 Treaty of Paris?
How did the Seven Years’ War impact British debt and colonial economics?
What were some causes of the US Revolutionary War?
How did military strategy change during the Revolutionary War?
What were the experiences of Loyalists to England who remained in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War?
How was the Revolutionary War pivotal for the career of Alexander Hamilton?
What was the role of alliances with France during the US Revolutionary War?
What were the experiences of people of color during the Revolutionary War?
How did George Washington’s previous military career pave the way for his leadership in the Revolutionary War?
What were the main types of weaponry during the Revolutionary War? How did that affect the options for military strategies?
How did clothing and fashion change over the courses of the Revolutionary War?
How was Valley Forge a key moment in the Revolutionary War?
How did women contribute to the Revolutionary War?
What happened in Amherst, Massachusetts (or any other specific location) during the Revolutionary War?
What was field medicine like during the Revolutionary War?
How was the Battle of Saratoga a turning point in the Revolutionary War?
How were different opinions about the Revolutionary War reflected in poetry written during that time?
What were the debates over abolition during the Revolutionary War?
What was the role of supply chains during the Revolutionary War?
What were reactions to the US Revolutionary war like in Europe? What does that tell us about politics in England, France, the Netherlands, etc?
How did the US Revolutionary war impact political theory in England and France?
What are similarities and differences between the US Revolutionary War and the French Revolution?
What are some famous paintings inspired by the US Revolutionary War? What do differences between these paintings tell us about how the artists who created them saw the war?
What are some different ways that the US Revolutionary War has been depicted in modern contemporary culture? What does that tell us?
How was the story of the “Boston Tea Party” appropriated by US politicians in the 2010s, and why?
What was the difference between the Federalists and the Jeffersonians?
How did the 1797 XYZ Affair lead to the Quasi-War with France?
How were loans from European countries and companies (France, Spain, Dutch bankers) key to the early US?
What were reactions to the Constitutional Convention of 1787?
Why did the US remain neutral during the French Revolution?
How did the Alien and Sedition acts contribute to the election of Thomas Jefferson as president?
What was the US’s reaction to the Haitian revolution? Why did the US not recognize Haitian independence until 1862?
What were the reactions to John Jay’s Treaty of 1794?
How have the remarks made by George Washington in his Farewell Address inspired isolationist policies?
How did interpretations of the Monroe Doctrine change over the decades since its creation?
How did the Roosevelt Corollary and Lodge Corollary change and expand the Monroe Doctrine?
How did the presence of US companies like the United Fruit Company affect US military interventions in Latin America?
How was the Monroe Doctrine invoked in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962?
How was US culture shaped by the Cold War?
How did ecology play a role in the rise of Ancient Egypt?
How did water management technologies impact Ancient Egypt?
How did bureaucracies function in Ancient Egypt?
How did Egyptian art influence Ancient Greek art?
Who could be a citizen in Athens in the 5th century BCE? What does this tell us about classical Athenian society?
What was the impact of the Peloponnesian War?
What was the impact of Alexander the Great’s attempt to create an empire?
How does the way that Alexander the Great is represented in art demonstrate conceptions about the relationship between the human and the divine?
Was there a conception of race in the ancient world? How were these ideas different from our own modern conceptions of race?
What was the role of debt slavery in the Roman republic? How were these policies ended, and what is the significance of the end of debt slavery? What kinds of slavery remained?
To what degree does the movie Gladiator accurately the Roman Empire in 176–192 CE?
What was the role of slavery in managing the large latifundia ?
How and why did the emperor Constantine I adopt Christianity?
How did patterns of urbanism in the latter Roman empire change? What does this tell us about challenges being faced at that time?
What do reactions to the Byzantine empress Theodora tell us about ideas of gender in 6th-century Byzantium?
How did scientific advancements in Islamic Spain influence the rest of Europe?
What was the relationship between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish populations in Islamic Spain? How does this compare to the experience of Muslim and Jewish populations in Christian Spain?
How did medieval troubadour poetry represent a new idea of romantic relationships?
What are similarities and differences between medieval troubadour poetry and lyric poetry in Ancient Greece?
What do letters between women and popes tell us about gender, power, and religion in medieval Europe?
In what ways was Hildegard of Bingen groundbreaking for her time?
Who produced beer in medieval England, and what does this tell us about society?
How did the adoption of hops affect the production and distribution of beer?
How did beer production allow some women a way to be financially independent?
How was clothing used to mark religious and cultural identities in 15th- and 16th-century Spain?
How did print culture change relationships and courting in Georgian England?
How did churches function as social gathering spaces in Georgian England?
To what degree is Netflix’s Bridgerton series historically accurate?
How did ideas of love change in the 18th century? How did philosophy play a role in this?
When were Valentine cards first commercially available? What does that show us about cultural ideas of love and courtship?
What were the consequences of the desertification of the Sahara?
How did trade links on the Red Sea influence Nubian culture?
How did Carthage build power in Northern Africa around 600–500 BCE?
What was the impact of the Mercenary War (241–238 BCE) in Carthage?
How did the Roman province of Africa play a key role in financing the Roman Empire?
What were the consequences of the Donatist division in the 300s in Northern Africa?
What was the impact of the large-scale movement of Bedouins from the Arabian peninsula into the Maghreb?
How was Mande society organized in the Mali Empire?
What was the role of the book trade in Timbuktu? What does this tell us about culture and learning in the Mali Empire?
How did Aksum use trade to build wealth and power?
What do Nok terracotta sculptures tell us about Nok culture?
How did the Luba Empire create a centralized political system? How did the idea of spiritual kins ( balopwe ) play a role in this system?
How did tax collection work in the Lunda empire?
What does it mean to say that the Ajuran Empire was a hydraulic empire? How did control over water resources allow the Ajuran Empire to build and consolidate power?
What is the significance of diplomatic ties between the Somai Ajuran Empire and Ming dynasty China?
How did the tribute system in the Kingdom of Kongo help to stimulate interregional trade?
What was the impact of the introduction of maize and cassava to the Kingdom of Kongo?
How did women wield influence in the Kingdom of Benin?
How did the Industrial Revolution in Europe help lead to the Scramble for Africa 1878–1898?
What were the consequences of the Second Boer War?
What happened in the Year of Africa (1960)?
How did the Han dynasty consolidate power in frontier regions?
How and why did the Han dynasty nationalize the private salt and iron industries in 117 BCE?
What are the earliest records of papermaking, and what is the significance of this invention?
What was the role of Daoist religious societies in rebellions at the end of the Han dynasty (Yellow Turban Rebellion, Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion)?
What do tomb paintings tell us about ancient Chinese society?
What was the impact of the Sui dynasty’s standardization and re-unification of the coinage?
What was the role of standardized testing in Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty China?
Why is the Tang dynasty often regarded as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture in Chinese history?
What was the role of slavery in imperial China?
How did the rise of jiedushi (regional military governments) undermine the civil-service system? What were the consequences of this?
How did Tang dynasty China exert power over Japan and Korea?
What was the Three Departments and Six Ministries system in imperial China and how did it work?
What does the appearance of Inca, Maya, and Aztec goods in North America (Utah, Canada) and the appearance of goods from the Great Lakes region in Maya and Aztec ruins tell us about trade in the Pre-Columbian Americas?
How did celebration of maize play a central role in Mesoamerican cultures?
How did the Aztec empire use relationships with client city-states to establish power? How did the Aztec empire use taxation to exert power?
How did the luxury good trade impact Aztec political power?
How did the building of roads play a key role in the Aztec empire?
How and why has archaeology played a pivotal role in expanding our understanding of the pre-Columbian Americas?
What are some common misconceptions about the Americas in the year 1491? Why do these misconceptions exist?

Latin American History (post-1492)

How and why did the Spanish appropriate Aztec sites of significance (e.g. Mexico City at the site of Tenochtitlan)?
What were reactions among Latin American intellectuals (e.g. Luis María Drago, Alejandro Álvarez and Baltasar Brum) to the Monroe Doctrine?
How was the US’s involvement in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 a pivotal turning point in the relationship between the US and Latin American countries?
What were the effects of the US’s involvement in the Cuban War for Independence?
How did the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904 benefit the US?
How did Simon Bolivar’s time in Europe affect his ideas about Latin American independence?
How did 19th century academic societies play a role in the advancement of scientific discoveries? Who was excluded from these societies?
How was music connected to the sciences in medieval thinking?
When was the concept of zero first used, and how was it instrumental for advancements in math?
What role did Islamic Spain play in the spread of scientific advancements in medieval Europe?
What role has translation between languages played in the development of sciences?
Why were Galileo’s ideas about astronomy controversial at the time?
What was the connection between art and advancements in human anatomy?
Why were Darwin’s ideas about natural selection controversial at the time?
To what degree does the film Master and Commander accurately depict the voyages of Charles Darwin?
How did the discovery of quinine and other medical innovations help to facilitate the European colonization of Africa?
How and why was the internet invented?
Does Virgil’s Aeneid celebrate the new Roman Empire or subvert it?
Why was the poet Ovid exiled from Rome?
What are the pagan influences in Beowulf ? What are the Christian elements in Beowulf ? What does that tell us about late Anglo-Saxon England?
How does Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales reflect gender roles in late medieval England?
How does Dante’s Inferno draw on book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid ?
How are gender roles presented and subverted in Shakespeare’s plays?
To what degree did Henry David Thoreau live out the ideals he described in Walden in his own life?
How did the serialized publication of novels affect the way that they were written?
Does Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities accurately portray the French Revolution?
How did 18th-century novels propagate the idea of marrying for love?
What did contemporary readers think about Jane Austen and her novels?
To what degree do Jane Austen’s novels reflect economic realities for women in Regency England? What do they leave out?
How did Lord Byron’s personal life affect his poetry?
What do we know about the romantic life of Emily Dickinson?
What were the religious movements that influenced the writer George Eliot, and how do those influences appear in her novels?
In what ways were Walt Whitman’s writings new or different?
How did British poets react to the horrors of Word War I?
What do Tolkien’s letters reveal about the ways in which the two world wars influenced his writings?
How did the friendship between CS Lewis and Tolkien affect their respective writings?
What are the arguments for and against Catalonian independence from Spain?
What are the arguments for and against Scottish independence from the United Kingdom?
What are some risks of contact sports, especially for children?
What are the most effective policies for combating childhood obesity?
What are the most effective policies for reducing gun violence?
Which countries have the longest life expectancy and why?
What are some differences between the healthcare system in the US and in European countries? Which country has the most similar system to the US?
What policies for parental leave exist in different countries? What are some effects of these policies?
Has the drinking age in the US always been 21? What have been some different policies, and what were some consequences of them?
What is the debate around museum artifacts like the Elgin Marbles in London or the Benin Bronzes in Berlin?
How have politicians attempted to control population growth in different countries, either directly or indirectly? What have been some effects of these policies?
Which countries have the most gender parity reflected in national governments? How have they accomplished this?
How has public funding of K-12 education changed since the 1930s in the US?
How has public funding of higher education changed in the US?
What is early childhood education like in different countries?
What are some effects of free or reduced-cost meals in schools?
How does access to menstrual products affect education outcomes for girls in different countries?
What was the impact of Rousseau’s writings on education?
How did Plato’s ideal forms of government reflect contemporary Athenian concerns about the unruly masses ( demos )?
How did Aristotle justify slavery?
How has wealth inequality increased in recent decades?
How is inflation calculated, and what are the implications of this methodology?
How have genetically-engineered crops changed the way that the planet feeds itself?
How has animal testing changed since 2000?
How is animal testing regulated differently in different countries?

Health Sciences and Psychology

How do different societies reflect the natural circadian rhythms of the human body?
How does secondhand smoke affect the human body?
How does lack of sleep affect the body?
How does stress affect the body?
What are some ways to reduce stress?
How have cancer treatments changed in the past 30 years?
Why is it hard to find a “cure” for cancer?
How has the Human Genome Project changed medical science?
How were the Covid vaccines developed so quickly? What is the difference between the various Covid vaccines that have been developed?

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99 Great Handpicked Ideas for Argumentative Essays 12 Essential Steps for Writing an Argumentative Essay The 13 SAT and ACT Grammar Rules to Know 16 Essential Literary Devices to Know

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Collection 07 April 2023

Engineered helicase replaces thermocycler in DNA amplification while retaining desired PCR characteristics

PCR is an essential method for the amplification and manipulation of nucleic acids, but the requirement for a thermocycler limits access. Here, authors engineer a helicase to replace the heating step of PCR with enzymatic unwinding, allowing the isothermal amplification of fragments up to 6 kb.

Momčilo Gavrilov
Joshua Y. C. Yang

Evolution of sexual systems, sex chromosomes and sex-linked gene transcription in flatworms and roundworms

Transitions between hermaphroditic and separate sexes are relatively understudied in animals compared to pants. Here, Wang et al. reconstruct the evolution of separate sexes in the flatworms and complex changes of sex chromosomes in the roundworms.

Yifeng Wang
Robin B. Gasser

The gut microbiota and depressive symptoms across ethnic groups

Here, by studying a multi-ethnic cross-sectional urban cohort ( N = 3211, 6 ethnic groups), the authors show that depressive symptom levels are related to the gut microbiota taxonomic characteristics but that these are largely invariant across ethnic groups.

Jos A. Bosch
Max Nieuwdorp

Metagenomics of Parkinson’s disease implicates the gut microbiome in multiple disease mechanisms

Here, the authors perform large-scale high-resolution Parkinson’s disease metagenomics analyses, revealing widespread dysbiosis characterized by overabundance of pathogens, immunogens, toxicants, and curli, reduction in neuroprotective and antiinflammatory molecules, and dysregulated neuroactive signaling.

Zachary D. Wallen
Ayse Demirkan
Haydeh Payami

Codon-specific Ramachandran plots show amino acid backbone conformation depends on identity of the translated codon

Genetic code redundancies are considered inconsequential to protein structure. This study uncovers a dependence between local amino acid conformation in folded proteins and the identity of the codon from which that amino acid was translated.

Aviv A. Rosenberg
Alex M. Bronstein

De novo analysis of bulk RNA-seq data at spatially resolved single-cell resolution

Current methods to reanalyze bulk RNA-seq at spatially resolved single-cell resolution have limitations. Here, the authors develop Bulk2Space, a spatial deconvolution algorithm using single-cell and spatial transcriptomics as references, providing new insights into spatial heterogeneity within bulk tissue.

Jingyang Qian
Xiaohui Fan

Exceptional preservation and foot structure reveal ecological transitions and lifestyles of early theropod flyers

The shape of bird toe pads and foot scales can be used to infer their behaviour. Here, the authors examine fossil evidence of toe pads and scales, in addition to claws and bones, from birds and close relatives, illustrating diverse lifestyles and ecological roles among early theropod flyers.

Michael Pittman
Phil R. Bell
Thomas G. Kaye

Common evolutionary origin of acoustic communication in choanate vertebrates

Here, the authors record acoustic communication in 53 species commonly considered non-vocal and reconstruct acoustic communication as originating 407 million years ago.

Gabriel Jorgewich-Cohen
Simon William Townsend
Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra

Calcium-mediated rapid movements defend against herbivorous insects in Mimosa pudica

Mimosa pudica moves its leaves within seconds of being touched or wounded. Here the authors show that such movements are triggered by rapid changes in Ca 2+ and action and variation potentials and provide evidence that rapid movements help protect the plant from insect attacks.

Takuma Hagihara
Hiroaki Mano
Masatsugu Toyota

Evolutionary transition from a single RNA replicator to a multiple replicator network

Long-term experimental evolution shows that a single polymerase-encoding RNA replicator can evolve into a complex replicator network, shedding light on how a molecular replicator could have developed complexity before the emergence of life.

Ryo Mizuuchi
Taro Furubayashi
Norikazu Ichihashi

Lysosomal damage drives mitochondrial proteome remodelling and reprograms macrophage immunometabolism

Extensive lysosomal damage can result in cell death but how limited protease leakage affects cytoplasmic organelles in viable cells is not well understood. Here the authors show that limited lysosomal damage leads to changes in the mitochondrial proteome and the modulation of macrophage immunometabolism.

Claudio Bussi
Tiaan Heunis
Maximiliano G. Gutierrez

Payload distribution and capacity of mRNA lipid nanoparticles

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are effective vehicles to deliver mRNA vaccines and therapeutics but assessing the mRNA packaging characteristics in LNPs is challenging. Here, the authors report that mRNA and lipid contents in LNP formulations can be quantitatively examined by multi-laser cylindrical illumination confocal spectroscopy at the single-nanoparticle level.

Hai-Quan Mao

Improved prediction of protein-protein interactions using AlphaFold2

Predicting the structure of protein complexes is extremely difficult. Here, authors apply AlphaFold2 with optimized multiple sequence alignments to model complexes of interacting proteins, enabling prediction of both if and how proteins interact with state-of-art accuracy.

Patrick Bryant
Gabriele Pozzati
Arne Elofsson

Predicting the structure of large protein complexes using AlphaFold and Monte Carlo tree search

The accuracy of AlphaFold decreases with the number of protein chains and the available GPU memory limits the size of protein complexes that can be predicted. Here, the authors show that complexes with 10–30 chains can be assembled from predicted subcomponents using Monte Carlo tree search.

Microbiome differential abundance methods produce different results across 38 datasets

Many microbiome differential abundance methods are available, but it lacks systematic comparison among them. Here, the authors compare the performance of 14 differential abundance testing methods on 38 16S rRNA gene datasets with two sample groups, and show ALDEx2 and ANCOM-II produce the most consistent results.

Jacob T. Nearing
Gavin M. Douglas
Morgan G. I. Langille

Deep phenotyping and lifetime trajectories reveal limited effects of longevity regulators on the aging process in C57BL/6J mice

Lifespan can be affected by both physiological ageing and specific sets of pathologies associated with old age. Here the authors report a resource of large-scale cross-sectional phenotyping of aging male mice at different time points to analyse a large set of phenotypes and molecular markers, including during genetic and diet interventions affecting lifespan.

Helmut Fuchs
Dan Ehninger

Structure-based discovery of small molecules that disaggregate Alzheimer’s disease tissue derived tau fibrils in vitro

Evidence suggests that fibrous aggregates of protein tau may be the proximal cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Here, using atomic structures of tau fibrils from brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, the authors have found small-molecule drug leads that disaggregate tau fibrils in vitro.

Paul M. Seidler
Kevin A. Murray
David S. Eisenberg

The intestinal clock drives the microbiome to maintain gastrointestinal homeostasis

Here, Heddes et al. demonstrate a major role for the intestinal circadian clock in driving microbiome dynamics. Microbiota transfer from intestinal clock-deficient mice promotes altered intestinal phenotypes, highlighting the importance of functional intestinal clocks for gastrointestinal homeostasis of the host.

Marjolein Heddes
Baraa Altaha
Silke Kiessling

A new gene set identifies senescent cells and predicts senescence-associated pathways across tissues

Identification of senescent cells in vivo remains a challenging task. Here the authors present and validate a senescence gene set called SenMayo enriched in human and murine aged tissues.

Dominik Saul
Robyn Laura Kosinsky
Sundeep Khosla

Caffeine blocks SREBP2-induced hepatic PCSK9 expression to enhance LDLR-mediated cholesterol clearance

Caffeine may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, but the underlying mechanisms for these effects are incompletely understood. Here the authors report that caffeine inhibits the activation of the transcription factor SREBP2 to promote LDLc clearance through the PCSK9-LDLR axis.

Paul F. Lebeau
Jae Hyun Byun
Richard C. Austin

Tissue-specific impacts of aging and genetics on gene expression patterns in humans

Age is a risk factor for many diseases, but the impact of aging on molecular phenotypes is not fully understood. Here, the authors quantify the relative contributions of genetics and aging to gene expression patterns across 27 tissues in humans, showing that age and genetics each play distinct roles in shaping expression phenotypes.

Ryo Yamamoto
Peter H. Sudmant

Altered glycolysis triggers impaired mitochondrial metabolism and mTORC1 activation in diabetic β-cells

Chronic hyperglycemia impairs insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells in diabetes. Here, the authors reveal that a glucose metabolite is responsible and show lowering glucose metabolism during hyperglycemia prevents loss of beta-cell function.

Elizabeth Haythorne
Matthew Lloyd
Frances M. Ashcroft

Perspectives in machine learning for wildlife conservation

Animal ecologists are increasingly limited by constraints in data processing. Here, Tuia and colleagues discuss how collaboration between ecologists and data scientists can harness machine learning to capitalize on the data generated from technological advances and lead to novel modeling approaches.

Benjamin Kellenberger
Tanya Berger-Wolf

Fully-automated and ultra-fast cell-type identification using specific marker combinations from single-cell transcriptomic data

Cell types are typically identified in single cell transcriptomic data by manual annotation of cell clusters using established marker genes. Here the authors present a fully-automated computational platform that can quickly and accurately distinguish between cell types.

Aleksandr Ianevski
Anil K. Giri
Tero Aittokallio

Host-dependent resistance of Group A Streptococcus to sulfamethoxazole mediated by a horizontally-acquired reduced folate transporter

There is increasing evidence for metabolic processes mediating antimicrobial resistance. Here, the authors present a mechanism of sulfamethoxazole resistance in Group A Streptococcus that is dependent on acquiring end products of the host folate biosynthesis pathway.

M. Kalindu D. Rodrigo
Aarti Saiganesh
Timothy C. Barnett

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How to write a perfect research paper topic for college?

So Let's get started with the steps you need to follow if you want to choose research paper topics for college.

Explore the field in which you have an interest

Finding a research paper topic that is easy to write is quite difficult. But to make the writing easy you can focus on the subject in which you have interest, this will make the task a bit easier. For example, if you have an interest in psychology, you must search for the research paper topics in psychology to make the job easier. The first and foremost point to start with writing a research paper is making a list of the subjects that you find interesting.

Explore a lot of information regarding your chosen topic

Now that you are done with choosing the research paper topics for college, the next step is to gather information about the particular topic. You can search online, refer to books, review articles, and other documents to make your research paper topic a big success. Moreover, you can check library sources too for more information.

Form a basic structure of your research paper topics

The easiest way to write a fabulous paper is to first form a basic infrastructure that will allow you to get a general idea of the available information regarding your chosen topic. Gather the information that is relevant to your topic then compile a list of what you are going to include in it. Remember to make the use of appropriate keywords that will grab the attention of your audience and make your research paper a big success.

Prioritize the guidelines of the tutor and your audience

Before you start writing the research paper topics you need to have some knowledge about your audience too. It is important to note whether or not your topic will catch their interest. Additionally, while drafting your research paper topics, keep in mind the guidelines provided by your instructor while giving you the topic. Try mixing the instructions with your topic of interest, but don't go too far.

By following these four simple instructions you can draft any research paper topics that are absolutely amazing.

Amazing research paper topics in 2022

Now that you've got some idea about choosing research paper topics that are interesting, let's move on to the next section that enlists some research paper topics for college. We will divide these 50 topics into five sections on education, psychology, environment, health, and politics. Have a look at different topics available to make your research paper perfect.

Research paper topics on psychology

How is human psychology affected by yoga?
Symptoms and treatment related to MPD.
Effect of depression on a child's brain
Impact of video game violence on children's brain
Symptoms and causes of Alzheimer’s disease
Impact on social platforms on humans
Role of media in Child development
Autism & its effects
How does regular physical exercise change your mood?
Cyberbullying and its results.

Research paper topics on education

Discuss the admissions policies of the colleges
Advantages and disadvantages related to paperless education
Impact of social media platforms on school and college life
Pros and cons of social networking in school
How is funding important in education?
Effect of modern technologies on education
Home Schooling
The positive impact of unique learning methods on child education
A complete overview of literacy in America.
Impact of Higher college fee on education.

Research Paper Topics on Health

Insomnia causes & effects.
How do sleeping pills affect human health?
Effects of mental issues on human health
Importance of health insurance
Safety of plastic surgery on human health
Relation between pregnancy and health care
Cons of eating fast food
How does overweight harm human health
Legalization of steroids. Discuss
Symptoms and causes of vision health.

Research Paper Topics on Environment

Effect of rising of global warming on Environment.
Discuss the importance of national parks at a large scale
A complete overview of the greenhouse effect
Discuss in detail the importance of small water bodies
Marine pollution | Causes, and effects
Regarding rainfall, discuss the role of fauna and flora.
Effect of oil spills on Environment and ways to reduce it.
Ways to protect endangered species
Importance of past learning
Discuss the positive impact of tropical rainforest on the Environment

Research Paper Topics on Politics

Views on Budget deficit
Views on Partisan politics
Affirmative Action. Your views
Views on Immigration & Emigration
Analysis of global security networks
Views on ethical guidelines of NGO
Discuss the causes of global poverty
Causes of the American revolution in detail
Discuss various methods of community development
Views on human right act 1998

So if you are confused about choosing the research paper topics that are interesting you can select from the above 50 research paper topics.

So this was all about getting your hands on the list of top 50 research paper topics argumentative. If you are still confused on how to draft perfect research paper topics then you can take help from the professionals. They will provide you with the best quality content for your research paper and draft it according to the guidelines provided by you. Otherwise, the above simple steps will help you a lot to draft a perfect research paper topic on your own. Happy writing!

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International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

the far side of the moon visible beyond the orion spacecraft, 21 november

The 10 biggest science stories of 2022 – chosen by scientists

From moon missions to fast-charging batteries and AI-sourced antibiotics, in no particular order, the year’s significant scientific developments

1. The Dart and Orion missions

The year opened with a bang. Or rather, it didn’t. The successful film Don’t Look Up , in which a comet is found to be on a collision course with Earth, had been released just before Christmas 2021. In the bleak days of post-festive gloom, the news media were on an adrenaline high, chasing any and every story about potential asteroid collisions to cheer us all up. Five asteroids were to pass close to the Earth in January alone! Happily for the health and wellbeing of humanity, none was predicted to come within a whisker of hitting the planet. Nonetheless, the possibility of an asteroid colliding with Earth is a reality – the globe is covered in craters from previous impacts, and it is well known that 65m years ago, dinosaurs became extinct following the impact of an asteroid about 10km across. Can anything be done about saving us from this existential extraterrestrial threat? Fortunately, the international space community has taken the first steps towards reducing the risk of an asteroid catching us unawares. The joint Nasa- Esa mission Dart (Double Asteroid Re-Direction Test) was an ambitious attempt to alter the trajectory of a small asteroid (Dimorphos) as it orbited a slightly larger asteroid (Didymos), by sending a spacecraft to crash into it. In October, we learned that the mission had been even more successful than anticipated, and that the orbit of Dimorphos had changed – showing that we could, if given sufficient time, alter the path of an asteroid if it were on a collision course with Earth.

As well as asteroid activity, our moon has been in the news, as a destination of choice for a new generation of astronauts. This year, it is 50 years since the Apollo 17 mission, the last time a human set foot on the moon. So it is a cause for celebration that Artemis, another joint Nasa-Esa programme, has started its operation to return people to the moon. The first phase of the mission, the Orion capsule, was launched in mid-November, and successfully returned to Earth last week. The capsule is designed to hold up to six astronauts – though there were none on board this maiden flight around the moon. We can now look forward to a series of increasingly complex flights of Orion – culminating in a crew of astronauts landing on the moon as soon as 2025.

Monica Grady

Monica Grady is professor of planetary and space sciences at Open University

2. Covid’s boost to immune research

a man gets his covid booster in nice, october this year

Vaccine technology has seen an unprecedented acceleration in innovation that could soon be benefiting us in a host of ways. A vaccine works by delivering an “infection” signal (something from the germ) and an “alert” signal (to wake the immune response up). As our knowledge of immunology has increased, so too has our capacity to innovate in the vaccines that deliver those signals. Designing any new vaccine takes a long time, significant investment and a lot of eager volunteers, all of which was accelerated during the pandemic, resulting in a host of novel developments.

The autumn Covid-19 booster shots we have just been offered are one such example – these bivalent vaccines target the original strain of Sars-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) alongside the Omicron variant. Bivalent vaccines have advantages over the original vaccines as they both top up and broaden our immunity . But what if you could broaden your immunity further – to not just two but multiple strains of virus? So-called multivalent vaccines for Covid-19 and flu are looking very promising. Another approach we could soon see is the use of sniffable or inhalable vaccines – mucosal vaccines . These are already used in China to tackle Covid-19 and may offer long-term protection against respiratory viruses. They are also much more appealing for those of us who are needle-phobic. If these new developments deliver on their promise, then one day soon the calls for annual shots could be a thing of the past. Sheena Cruickshank

Sheena Cruickshank is professor of biomedical sciences and public engagement at the University of Manchester

3. AI reveals new antibiotics

antibiotic susceptibility testing in the lab

Over the course of the past few years, AI has transformed the field of molecular biology. The revolution started with the AlphaFold algorithm, which rapidly predicts the complex three-dimensional structures of proteins, thus aiding the understanding of protein functions and the identification of drug targets. This year, AI has achieved another breakthrough, this time at the other end of the drug discovery pipeline: several groups in 2022 have reported the first successful applications of AI to identify novel antibiotic drugs.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major global threat. This year, the global research on antimicrobial resistance report published in the Lancet indicated that, worldwide, 4.95m deaths were associated with drug-resistant bacteria in 2019, making untreatable infections one of the leading causes of death.

Developing new drugs that overcome resistance and replenish our arsenal of effective antimicrobials is a continuous struggle. And that is where AI is now beginning to make a major contribution. For example, Yue Ma and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences used machine-learning techniques originally developed for natural language processing to identify antimicrobial peptides encoded by the genome sequences of microbes in the human gut. The algorithm identified 2,349 potential antimicrobial peptide sequences. Of these, 216 peptides were synthesised by chemical methods, and 181 of them were shown to have antimicrobial activity. This is an impressive success rate, which would not have been possible without the aid of AI.

Even more strikingly, almost half of the peptides discovered were entirely new, without obvious sequence similarity to known antimicrobials, thus increasing the chances of circumventing existing resistance mechanisms. Animal experiments showed that three of the new peptides could be used for the safe and effective treatment of bacterial pneumonia in mice. Studies such as this are good news, promising an unprecedented rapid route towards novel treatment options for some of the scariest pathogenic threats we currently face. Eriko Takano

E riko Takano is professor of synthetic biology at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology

4. Early weather warnings

displaced people carry belongings along a flooded road in jaffarabad, south-eastern pakistan, in august this year

In 2022, science was able to see a hurricane hitting the coast of the US before it even formed out at sea. We could visualise the Brisbane River spreading out into Australian homes before a drop of rain had fallen. And we put firefighters on action stations before the spark was lit that burned southern France. We now have the technology to see many of these natural hazards coming, days in advance.

And yet 2022 has been full of lethal events. In Europe, more than 20,000 people died from record-breaking heat this summer, hitting more than 40C (104F) across England for the first time. In August, one third of Pakistan was underwater during a monster monsoon season, killing 1,700 people . Global heating is making these types of disasters worse.

This is why the key scientific story from the past year is not cutting-edge research or hi-tech engineering, but the push by the UN secretary general António Guterres for the world to have equal access to early warnings . Alerting people to danger, so they can take action, is the best way to prevent tragedy. We need equal access to skills and systems that were pioneered years ago. Critical, too, is the leadership to share information and act on the warnings that ensue. Hannah Clo ke

Hannah Clo ke is professor of hydrology at Reading University

5. Inclusive inroads

a scanning electron microscope image of red blood cells affected by sickle cell disease

This year saw a small but important advance in the treatment of sickle cell disease, a group of inherited disorders that cause red blood cells to become sickle shaped and can lead to anaemia. A drug developed to treat an enzyme deficiency (pyruvate kinase) was found to improve anaemia and reduced acute episodes of severe pain in sickle cell disease. While the research is still in its early phases, the researchers point out that their breakthrough came from looking at the characteristics of people with sickle cell disease rather than focusing only on their red blood cells. This development has been found to benefit people with other conditions and brings hope to millions of people worldwide, but predominantly in Africa, the Indian subcontinent and South America.

This was also the year when Nasa’s Artemis mission, which aims “to land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon” by 2025, put female torsos Helga and Zohar into space to test the effects of radiation on the grounds that women appear to be at a greater risk from space radiation than men. This may seem unremarkable, but it was only in 2022 that a Swedish research team designed a new crash test dummy representing an “average woman” , rather than a scaled-down version of the male dummy that is the size of a 12-year-old girl.

Developments such as these excite hope of inclusive science where gender, ethnicity and location neither privilege nor exclude. Ann Phoenix

Ann Phoenix is professor of psychosocial studies at the UCL Institute of Education

fields medal winners maryna viazovska and james maynard at the awards ceremony in helsinki

6. Elite mathematicians

The Fields medal recognises outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work. Often described as the Nobel prize of mathematics, it is awarded every four years to recipients under the age of 40.

Congratulation to Prof James Maynard, who was awarded a Fields medal this year for his “spectacular contributions” to analytic number theory, “which have led to major advances in the understanding of the structure of prime numbers and in Diophantine approximation”.

One of his standout proofs was to prove the following: there are infinitely many prime numbers whose decimal representation does not contain the digit 7.

Such a simple statement to understand but not very easy to prove. Maynard joins an elite list of British mathematicians who have won the medal.

Congratulations also to one of the other Fields medallists, the Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska , the second woman to win the award. The mathematician Henry Cohn stated: “Viazovska manages to do things that are completely non-obvious that lots of people tried and failed to do.” She was cited for many mathematical accomplishments, in particular her proof that an arrangement called the E8 lattice is the densest packing of spheres in eight dimensions. Nira Chamberlain

Prof Nira Chamberlain is president of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

7. Soft cell, hard cell…

When we think about what influences how the cells inside our bodies develop, we often think of biological or chemical factors. But physical forces – what’s known as the “mechanical” environment – can be just as critical to a cell’s journey. The ability of cells to sense and respond to their mechanical environment has been known for several decades: for example, stem cells grown on soft jelly-like gels will become different cell types compared with stem cells grown on stiff glass-like surfaces.

Early signs of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s are often associated with changes in cell stiffness. However, it has been difficult to measure the stiffness of cells and organs inside our bodies, and how they change during development and disease. Tools to measure cell mechanical properties have relied on applying forces to the cell – essentially poking or cutting a cell and seeing how it responds. This is often invasive and damaging, and isn’t easily performed on living cells or organs inside animals, let alone humans.

This year, two research groups, one from Germany , and one from the US , published separate studies demonstrating groundbreaking improvements in a method to measure cell-stiffness, known as Brillouin microscopy. This optical method is non-damaging, allowing you to “see” the stiffness of a material without having to touch it. Developments in this technique this year have significantly advanced imaging speed and resolution, and reduced photo-damage, making the method now widely applicable for observing changes in cell mechanical properties in living animals.

This method will provide a powerful tool for early diagnosis of diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s. It will also revolutionise how scientists can measure and track the mechanical changes of our cells during normal development, and critically improve our understanding of the importance of mechanical forces in biology. Yanlan Mao

Yanlan Mao is professor of developmental biophysics at University College London

8. Quantum entanglement untangled

john f clauser receives the nobel prize in physics from king carl xvi gustaf of sweden

“Spooky action at a distance.” That’s what Albert Einstein called quantum entanglement, which is when two quantum particles have to be considered as a single entity, since influencing one of them affects the other even when they are far apart.

In October this year, the three pioneers of quantum information science, Alain Aspect of the University of Paris-Saclay, John Clauser of JF Clauser & Associates, and Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna were awarded the Nobel prize in physics for their contributions to understanding quantum entanglement.

There are many reasons to enjoy this long overdue award. For the sheer beauty of providing new insights into an exciting area of fundamental phenomena. For laying the groundwork for breakthroughs in quantum computers to carry out complex calculations that would be impossible on a conventional computer, and in quantum encryption that could allow secure communications. For spurring more experiments to address one of the great questions of science – how to reconcile quantum mechanics with Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

And finally, for demonstrating another example of the importance of curiosity-driven basic science leading to real-world applications that could change the way we live and work. Saiful Islam

Saiful Islam is professor of materials science at Oxford University

9. Nature positive

greenpeace activists hold up banners at cop15, the un biodiversity conference, in montreal, canada, earlier this month

A huge moment for biodiversity is still ongoing as I write: the much-delayed 15th meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, which will set a course for nature recovery from now until 2050. These international agreements feed into national legislation, such as the UK’s Environment Act. Alongside this, companies are making bold commitments to become “nature positive”, meaning that their activities should, overall, lead to nature being in a better state.

Nature-positive commitments need to translate into real, measurable – and attributable – recovery of nature. This is very challenging, though, partly because many products have tortuous supply chains so that the companies themselves don’t always know what the biodiversity impact of their activities is. For example, nickel is a crucial component of our daily lives, being used in the production of stainless steel. Yet how often do we stop and think about where the nickel in our cutlery or electric car batteries has come from, and how producing it has affected the environment?

One impact is the clearance of forests in areas where nickel ore is mined. Ambatovy nickel mine, the biggest mine in Madagascar, is one of a growing number of businesses to have made a commitment to leave nature in no worse a state as a result of its operations. The mine compensated for its forest clearance by putting measures in place to stop clearance of forest by local people for agriculture elsewhere. This year, Katie Devenish and colleagues at Bangor University published a paper looking at whether they had succeeded. Using sophisticated methods to separate out the effects of the mine’s activities from other factors leading to forest loss, the researchers demonstrated that the mine was on track to prevent at least as much deforestation as it had caused. The study is a model for how scientists can carry out thorough and independent evaluations of companies’ environmental commitments, reducing the temptation to greenwash.

We need many more studies like this, that link the esoteric world of high-level policy-making to realities on the ground, in all sectors from mining, to food, to transport and infrastructure. Then we will have a much better chance to hold our governments and companies to account, and reverse the loss of nature, wherever it takes place. E J Milner-Gulland

EJ Milner-Gulland is a professor of biodiversity at Oxford University

10. Battery charge

lithium extraction at bristol lake in the mojave desert, california

It’s one of the greatest unappreciated stories of our time: the incredibly rapid improvements in battery technology that will form the foundation of an electrified world as we wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

Of course there are questions. What about the costs? Will batteries ever really store enough energy for their size to power something like a large plane? And where will we get all the rare metals necessary to build them?

That’s why my story of the year is the October Nature paper by Chao-Yang Wang and co-authors , describing a way to charge energy-dense batteries incredibly quickly – in just a few minutes. It really highlights the phenomenal speed at which battery chemists, engineers and technologists are rising to the challenge. If you can charge a car battery in 10-12 minutes, charging more frequently becomes much less of a problem, allowing for smaller batteries that are cheaper and less resource-intensive to make.

We are also seeing huge progress in battery technologies based on cheap, abundant sodium instead of expensive and relatively rare lithium, as well as methods to make all these batteries far easier to recycle.

The basic principles of a battery haven’t changed, but the potential of the newest versions is astonishing and getting better all the time. Helen Czerski

Helen Czerski is a research fellow at the department of mechanical engineering , University College London

The Observer
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Climate crisis
Mathematics
Coronavirus

Comments (…)

Preventive Health Care

The first two POEMs relate to preventive medicine ( Table 1 ) . 5 , 6 Many patients take statins to reduce cardiovascular events. But how large is the benefit? A meta-analysis identified 19 studies that randomized 132,763 patients to statin therapy or placebo. 5 Studies were typically three to six years in duration, and statins reduced the risk of overall death by 0.8%, myocardial infarction by 1.3%, and stroke by 0.4%. When statins were used as primary prevention, the reductions were smaller: 0.6% fewer deaths, 0.7% fewer myocardial infarctions, and 0.3% fewer strokes, for an overall number needed to treat of 63 to prevent one event over three to six years. The 95% CI around all-cause mortality alone was 88 to 250 over several years of treatment as primary prevention. Not bad, but this is probably a higher number needed to treat than most of our patients believe.

Screening for low vitamin D levels and recommending replacement in those who are deficient have become popular, although the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found insufficient evidence to recommend screening in asymptomatic individuals. 7 A trial randomized 25,871 men 50 years or older and women 55 years or older to receive 2,000 IU of vitamin D or placebo daily for a median of five years. 6 There was no difference between groups in any type of fracture, even in patients with low baseline vitamin D levels (hazard ratio = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.80 to 1.36) or a previous fracture.

Behavioral Health

The first POEM in this group provides insight into what happens when a patient discontinues an antidepressant 8 ( Table 2 8 – 13 ) . The study included primary care patients with at least two episodes of depression who had been taking an antidepressant for at least two years. 8 Patients were randomized to continue the medication or taper it over two months to placebo. After one year, the likelihood of relapse was significantly higher in the discontinuation group (56% vs. 39%; hazard ratio = 2.1; 95% CI, 1.6 to 2.7). Symptoms in the discontinuation group were also more severe.

The next study looked at the best way to treat these patients with acute severe depression. It showed that combination therapy is better than monotherapy for first-line treatment and in patients who do not respond to initial monotherapy (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.44). 9 An SMD of 0.31 is consistent with a small effect size. The combination of a monoamine reuptake inhibitor (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor [SSRI], serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, or tricyclic antidepressant) with mirtazapine or trazodone is more effective than monotherapy for first-line treatment and for patients who do not respond to monotherapy.

Turning to anxiety disorders, a network meta-analysis of 87 randomized controlled trials with 12,800 participants evaluated 12 drug classes to treat panic disorder. 10 Only one trial was at low risk of bias, and most trials were no more than three months in duration. The meta-analysis found that the most effective drugs were benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants, and SSRIs, with SSRIs having the least risk of adverse effects. Sertraline and escitalopram have the best balance of high remission rates and low risk of adverse events. But remember, other studies have found that cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness-based therapies are likely to be as effective as medications. 14 , 15

Finally, a network meta-analysis identified 154 double-blind randomized controlled trials that compared a broad range of hypnotic agents with each other and placebo for the treatment of insomnia. 11 There were 20 individual drugs and drug classes, including benzodiazepines, melatonin, trazodone, and newer short-acting hypnotics such as eszopiclone (Lunesta) and lemborexant (Dayvigo). The drugs most likely to be effective were eszopiclone and lemborexant in the long-term and eszopiclone, lemborexant, benzodiazepines, seltorexant (undergoing clinical trials in the United States), trazodone, trimipramine, zopiclone (not available in the United States), and zolpidem in the short-term. However, all drugs had relatively high rates of adverse effects (although so did placebo). The authors concluded that eszopiclone and lemborexant provide the best balance of effectiveness and tolerability in the short- and long-term.

One POEM reported on a study of 3,132 children and adults with moderate to severe asthma who were taking long-term inhaled corticosteroids and had experienced a severe asthma exacerbation in the previous year 16 ( Table 3 16 , 17 ) . They were randomized to two puffs each of albuterol, 90 mcg, plus budesonide, 80 mcg; albuterol, 90 mcg, plus budesonide, or albuterol alone as a rescue inhaler. In the higher-dose budesonide group, there was about 1 fewer exacerbation per 7 patients treated for one year compared with the albuterol only group, and patients also took significantly fewer systemic steroids (84 mg vs. 130 mg per year).

The second POEM in this group adds to the same evidence base as the first but in a more diverse population. Asthma disproportionately affects Black and Latinx patients, yet these groups have been underrepresented in research. This study randomized 1,201 self-identified Black and Latinx adults with moderate to severe asthma to a short-acting beta agonist (SABA) inhaler alone as reliever therapy or to a SABA plus a puff of a beclomethasone, 80 mcg, inhaler for every puff of the SABA. 17 There was approximately 1 fewer asthma exacerbation for every 8 patients in the combined therapy group compared with SABA alone over one year. Asthma control scores also improved, but the change was not clinically significant. Minority representation in studies is critical to addressing health disparities. 18

Gastroenterology

The first of three POEMs on gastroenterology topics ( Table 4 19 – 22 ) summarized an observational study of the following question: Is there an association between gastric cancer and the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)? Answer: Patients taking PPIs have a small increased risk of gastric cancer (number needed to harm = 1,191 over 10 years). 19 But, remember, association is not causation. That said, physicians initiating antacid therapy should begin with a histamine H 2 blocker. If physicians are prescribing a PPI, the lowest dose and duration possible should be used. Choosing Wisely Canada provides a toolkit for helping to deprescribe PPIs (available at https://choosingwiselycanada.org/toolkit/bye-bye-ppi ).

How should clinicians evaluate and manage patients with suspected gastroesophageal reflux disease? The American College of Gastroenterology guideline panel recognizes that some patients require long-term PPI therapy, and the benefits outweigh the theoretical risks in these patients. In patients who are treatment naive and have classic symptoms and no alarm symptoms, clinicians should attempt to discontinue PPIs after a successful eight-week trial. Therefore, initial prescriptions should generally be limited to a duration of eight weeks. 21

Informed by systematic reviews, the British Society of Gastroenterology published updated recommendations for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (defined as at least six months of abdominal pain or discomfort and altered bowel habits). 22 Colonoscopy is recommended only for patients with alarm signs and symptoms or those at risk of microscopic colitis. First-line therapy includes exercise and gradually increasing doses of soluble fiber (e.g., psyllium). Recommendations for other first- and second-line treatments are summarized in the POEM.

Prediabetes/Diabetes Mellitus

The natural history of prediabetes in adults older than 60 years is the topic of the first POEM in this category ( Table 5 23 – 26 ) . This English study included more than 2,000 adults without diabetes mellitus at baseline. 23 The average age of participants was 70.6 years, and 55% were women. Over eight years of follow-up, older people with prediabetes were more likely to become normoglycemic than to develop diabetes or die. Perhaps it is time to retire the term “prediabetes” when talking with older people.

The next POEM reports on the long-term cardiovascular outcomes for participants in the original Diabetes Prevention Program trial. 24 In this trial, participants were randomized to receive metformin, 850 mg twice daily; an intensive exercise program; or placebo, and were then followed for three years. At the conclusion of the study, all patients were invited to participate in a long-term open-label follow-up study, and 86% agreed. The bottom line: In patients with prediabetes, neither an intensive lifestyle intervention nor metformin had an impact on the long-term risk of cardiovascular outcomes.

In the nursing home setting, a cohort of 42 older adults with type 2 diabetes were evaluated for the frequency and persistence of hypoglycemia. All participants were taking medications capable of inducing hypoglycemia (e.g., sulfonylureas, repaglinide, insulin). The study showed that seven people (17%) spent more than 20% of an entire day in a hypoglycemic state. Severe hypoglycemia occurred in 19 people (45%). A lower A1C level was associated with more frequent events and a longer time spent in a hypoglycemic state. 25 We should allow A1C results to be higher in frail older patients.

The last POEM in this group summarized the findings of a crossover trial that compared three drugs for decreasing pain in adults with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. 26 Similar degrees of improvement were reported with monotherapy using amitriptyline, duloxetine (Cymbalta), or pregabalin (Lyrica). Greater improvement was reported with subsequent combination therapy, regardless of initial choice of medication. This POEM included a table summarizing the adverse effects associated with three combinations of these drugs. Dizziness was more common with duloxetine plus pregabalin, nausea with pregabalin plus amitriptyline, and dry mouth with amitriptyline plus pregabalin.

Miscellaneous

Five top POEMs do not fall easily into a single category ( Table 6 27 – 31 ) . With regard to health information, understanding should clearly precede decision-making. However, when we say “rare” or “high risk,” what are we implying, and what do these terms mean to patients? A systematic review of 33 studies found significant variability in the presentation of probabilities and their subsequent interpretation by patients. This POEM also showed that most patients prefer numbers rather than word-based estimates of risk. 27

The next POEM was a randomized trial evaluating whether extending varenicline (Chantix) treatment beyond 12 weeks is beneficial for increasing the likelihood of smoking cessation. At 52 weeks of follow-up, there was no difference in quit rates between those taking varenicline for 12 weeks vs. 24 weeks. 28 Also, combining varenicline with nicotine replacement therapy produced no additional benefit. Therefore, initial varenicline prescriptions should specify a duration of 12 weeks. Using varenicline for longer than 12 weeks may be appropriate for a select group of patients who want a longer treatment course. 32

Drug interactions between cannabidiol (CBD) and commonly used medications is the topic of the next POEM. This study showed that CBD may increase serum levels of SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotics, beta blockers, and opioids. 29 CBD increases levels of lamotrigine, but other anti-convulsants decrease levels of CBD. Although this reminds us of the potential for drug-drug interactions with CBD, we also need to know more about the severity of these interactions for better clinical decision-making.

The next POEM addresses the treatment of acute nonradicular low back pain. A randomized controlled trial of 198 adults 18 to 65 years of age presenting to the emergency department found no difference among ibuprofen, ketorolac, and diclofenac for the outcome of clinical improvement at five days. 30 Thus, although some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may have a reputation of being a better analgesic, there seems to be a class effect with these drugs.

Our final top POEM identified the best topical therapy for mild to moderate acne vulgaris. The authors of this network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials began by asking patients what was most important to them in terms of the outcome of acne treatment. Thus, the primary outcomes of this study were effectiveness, the proportion of patients who reported at least moderate improvement, tolerability, and the proportion who withdrew from the study or stopped using the medication due to adverse events. The bottom line: For a condition such as acne that has many treatment choices, good options include adapalene/benzoyl peroxide (Epiduo), followed by clindamycin/benzoyl peroxide and then adapalene alone. 31

COVID-19 and Practice Guidelines

As noted earlier, studies of COVID-19 vaccines were among the most highly rated for relevance. The uniform message across these studies was that vaccines and boosters are highly effective, especially at preventing hospitalizations and in older patients. 33 – 37 They are also very safe. Although there is a small increase in the risk of myocarditis, especially in younger men (about 2 to 6 cases per 100,000 vaccinated men 18 to 39 years of age), the risk of myocarditis and other complications associated with COVID-19 infection and the lower risk of cardiac arrest or death in vaccinated people support the importance of vaccination. 38

Several guidelines were also highly rated. The USPSTF no longer recommends initiating aspirin therapy for primary prevention in patients 60 years or older based on newer studies showing no net benefit. The USPSTF continues to recommend statins for adults 40 to 75 years of age who have one or more cardiovascular risk factors and an estimated 10-year cardiovascular event risk of at least 10%, with shared decision-making for those with a 10-year event risk of 7.5% to 9.9%. 39

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated guidelines for two important conditions. Although metformin remains the cornerstone of oral drug therapy for type 2 diabetes, increased use of sodium-glucose cotrans-porter-2 inhibitors is encouraged, especially for patients with chronic heart or renal disease. 40 The updated guideline includes a helpful decision tree (see https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o775/infographic ). The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated guidelines for depression highlight the importance of an ongoing patient-physician relationship and for management of less severe depression to begin with various nondrug treatment options, such as guided self-help. For more severe depression, treatment should begin with cognitive behavior therapy, medication, or both. 41

Editor's Note: This article was cowritten by Dr. Mark Ebell, deputy editor for evidence-based medicine for AFP and cofounder and editor-in-chief of Essential Evidence Plus, published by Wiley-Blackwell, Inc. Because of Dr. Ebell’s dual roles and ties to Essential Evidence Plus, the concept for this article was independently reviewed and approved by a group of AFP ’s medical editors. In addition, the article underwent peer review and editing by four of AFP ’s medical editors. Dr. Ebell was not involved in the editorial decision-making process.—Sumi Sexton, MD, Editor-in-Chief

The authors thank Wiley-Blackwell, Inc., for giving permission to excerpt the POEMs; Drs. Allen Shaughnessy, Henry Barry, David Slawson, Nita Kulkarni, and Linda Speer for selecting and writing the original POEMs; the academic family medicine fellows and faculty of the University of Missouri–Columbia for their work as peer reviewers; CMA Joule for supporting the POEMs CME program in Canada; Pierre Pluye, PhD, for codeveloping the Information Assessment Method; and Maria Vlasak for her assistance with copyediting the POEMs.

Shaughnessy AF, Slawson DC, Bennett JH. Becoming an information master: a guidebook to the medical information jungle. J Fam Pract. 1994;39(5):489-499.

Ebell MH, Barry HC, Slawson DC, et al. Finding POEMs in the medical literature. J Fam Pract. 1999;48(5):350-355.

Badran H, Pluye P, Grad R. When educational material is delivered: a mixed methods content validation study of the Information Assessment Method. JMIR Med Educ. 2017;3(1):e4.

CMA Joule medical librarians. Linking POEMs with overuse alerts from Choosing Wisely Canada. Canadian Medical Association. January 11, 2023. Accessed January 26, 2023. https://www.cma.ca/clinical-blog/linking-poems-overuse-alerts-choosing-wisely-canada

Byrne P, Demasi M, Jones M, et al. Evaluating the association between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction and relative and absolute effects of statin treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis [published correction appears in JAMA Intern Med . 2022; 182(5): 579]. JAMA Intern Med. 2022;182(5):474-481.

LeBoff MS, Chou SH, Ratliff KA, et al. Supplemental vitamin D and incident fractures in midlife and older adults. N Engl J Med. 2022;387(4):299-309.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Final recommendation statement. Vitamin D deficiency in adults: screening. April 13, 2021. Accessed January 28, 2023. https://uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/vitamin-d-deficiency-screening

Lewis G, Marston L, Duffy L, et al. Maintenance or discontinuation of antidepressants in primary care. N Engl J Med. 2021;385(14):1257-1267.

Henssler J, Alexander D, Schwarzer G, et al. Combining antidepressants vs antidepressant monotherapy for treatment of patients with acute depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2022;79(4):300-312.

Chawla N, Anothaisintawee T, Charoenrungrueangchai K, et al. Drug treatment for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2022;376:e066084.

De Crescenzo F, D'Alò GL, Ostinelli EG, et al. Comparative effects of pharmacological interventions for the acute and long-term management of insomnia disorder in adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet. 2022;400(10347):170-184.

Mysliwiec V, Martin JL, Ulmer CS, et al. The management of chronic insomnia disorder and obstructive sleep apnea: synopsis of the 2019 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense clinical practice guidelines [published correction appears in Ann Intern Med . 2021; 174(4): 584]. Ann Intern Med. 2020;172(5):325-336.

Qaseem A, Kansagara D, Forciea MA, et al. Management of chronic insomnia disorder in adults: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2016;165(2):125-133.

Hoge EA, Bui E, Mete M, et al. Mindfulness-based stress reduction vs escitalopram for the treatment of adults with anxiety disorders: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023;80(1):13-21.

Imai H, Tajika A, Chen P, et al. Psychological therapies versus pharmacological interventions for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016(10):CD011170.

Papi A, Chipps BE, Beasley R, et al. Albuterol-budesonide fixed-dose combination rescue inhaler for asthma. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(22):2071-2083.

Israel E, Cardet JC, Carroll JK, et al. Reliever-triggered inhaled glucocorticoid in Black and Latinx adults with asthma. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(16):1505-1518.

Bryant-Stephens T. Breaking the skin color barriers for asthma medications. It's not black, brown, or white. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(16):1574-1575.

Abrahami D, McDonald EG, Schnitzer ME, et al. Proton pump inhibitors and risk of gastric cancer: population-based cohort study. Gut. 2022;71(1):16-24.

Seo SI, Park CH, You SC, et al. Association between proton pump inhibitor use and gastric cancer: a population-based cohort study using two different types of nationwide databases in Korea. Gut. 2021;70(11):2066-2075.

Katz PO, Dunbar KB, Schnoll-Sussman FH, et al. ACG clinical guideline for the diagnosis and management of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Am J Gastroenterol. 2022;117(1):27-56.

Vasant DH, Paine PA, Black CJ, et al. British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on the management of irritable bowel syndrome. Gut. 2021;70(7):1214-1240.

Veronese N, Noale M, Sinclair A, et al. Risk of progression to diabetes and mortality in older people with prediabetes: The English longitudinal study on ageing. Age Ageing. 2022;51(2):afab222.

Goldberg RB, Orchard TJ, Crandall JP, et al. Effects of long-term metformin and lifestyle interventions on cardiovascular events in the Diabetes Prevention Program and its outcome study. Circulation. 2022;145(22):1632-1641.

Bouillet B, Tscherter P, Vaillard L, et al. Frequent and severe hypoglycaemia detected with continuous glucose monitoring in older institutionalised patients with diabetes. Age Ageing. 2021;50(6):2088-2093.

Tesfaye S, Sloan G, Petrie J, et al. Comparison of amitriptyline supplemented with pregabalin, pregabalin supplemented with amitriptyline, and duloxetine supplemented with pregabalin for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (OPTION-DM): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised crossover trial [published correction appears in Lancet . 2022; 400(10355): 810]. Lancet. 2022;400(10353):680-690.

Andreadis K, Chan E, Park M, et al. Imprecision and preferences in interpretation of verbal probabilities in health: a systematic review. J Gen Intern Med. 2021;36(12):3820-3829.

Baker TB, Piper ME, Smith SS, et al. Effects of combined varenicline with nicotine patch and of extended treatment duration on smoking cessation: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2021;326(15):1485-1493.

Balachandran P, Elsohly M, Hill KP. Cannabidiol interactions with medications, illicit substances, and alcohol: a comprehensive review. J Gen Intern Med. 2021;36(7):2074-2084.

Irizarry E, Restivo A, Salama M, et al. A randomized controlled trial of ibuprofen versus ketorolac versus diclofenac for acute, nonradicular low back pain. Acad Emerg Med. 2021;28(11):1228-1235.

Stuart B, Maund E, Wilcox C, et al. Topical preparations for the treatment of mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris: systematic review and network meta-analysis. Br J Dermatol. 2021;185(3):512-525.

Leone FT, Zhang Y, Evers-Casey S, et al. Initiating pharmacologic treatment in tobacco-dependent adults. An official American Thoracic Society clinical practice guideline. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020;202(2):e5-e31.

Arbel R, Hammerman A, Sergienko R, et al. BNT162b2 vaccine booster and mortality due to Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021;385(26):2413-2420.

Magen O, Waxman JG, Makov-Assif M, et al. Fourth dose of BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in a nationwide setting. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(17):1603-1614.

Talic S, Shah S, Wild H, et al. Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and covid-19 mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis [published correction appears in BMJ . 2021; 375: n2997]. BMJ. 2021;375:e068302.

Altarawneh HN, Chemaitelly H, Ayoub HH, et al. Effects of previous infection and vaccination on symptomatic omicron infections. N Engl J Med. 2022;387(1):21-34.

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Husby A, Hansen JV, Fosbøl E, et al. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and myocarditis or myopericarditis: population based cohort study. BMJ. 2021;375:e068665.

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The 10 Most Popular Articles in 2022 (So Far)

Managers are seeking ways to improve employee well-being and build a strong workplace culture.

Workplace, Teams, & Culture
Talent Management
Organizational Behavior

Year three of a global pandemic. A war in Ukraine. Inflation in the U.S. at a 40-year high. Small talk around the watercooler (mainly the virtual one, nowadays) certainly feels heavier than it used to.

Recent Gallup data indicates that in 2022, companies and managers remain challenged by the task of raising employee engagement to pre-pandemic levels. Nearly half of global workers (44%) surveyed reported feeling “a lot” of stress in the previous day. The Great Resignation has demonstrated the power of employees to vote with their feet, and a resurgence of the labor movement in the U.S. has put pressure on even top-tier companies to improve working conditions.

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Companies that have thrived amid the pandemic and worker reshuffling have focused on worker well-being from the start. Unfortunately, for many employees across the globe, this may be the exception rather than the norm. As Gallup’s Jon Clifton put it, “Improving life at work isn’t rocket science, but the world is closer to colonizing Mars than it is to fixing the world’s broken workplaces.”

To begin to fix these issues, managers must focus on two areas in particular: leadership and culture. In the first months of the year, many MIT SMR readers turned their attention to articles focused on workplace culture, talent management, and employee retention.

With many companies now adopting permanent remote and hybrid work policies, other popular articles include data-driven approaches to managing well-being on virtual teams — from scheduling meeting-free days to creating systems for supporting mental health.

The following are the 10 most popular articles of the year so far. We hope they will continue to help managers who are looking to support employee engagement and build thriving workplaces.

#1 Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation

Donald sull, charles sull, and ben zweig.

In this article, the authors discuss the top five predictors of employee turnover uncovered by their analysis of attrition data during the Great Resignation and share four actions that managers can take in the short term to improve employee satisfaction.

#2 Top Performers Have a Superpower: Happiness

Paul b. lester, ed diener, and martin seligman.

Research has found that happiness, a sense of well-being, and an optimistic outlook are powerful predictors of how well an employee will perform. Managers who consciously promote employee well-being and take steps to eliminate toxic leadership in their business units will reap the benefits.

#3 The Surprising Impact of Meeting-Free Days

Ben laker, vijay pereira, pawan budhwar, and ashish malik.

Spending too much time in meetings can detract from effective collaboration, derail workers during their most productive hours, and interrupt people’s train of thought. No-meeting policies permit team members to excel without breaking their momentum, but specific plans must be tailored to each unique organizational context to maximize the benefits. The authors suggest several ways to deploy a no-meeting policy or adjust an existing one.

#4 Orchestrating Workforce Ecosystems

Elizabeth j. altman, david kiron, robin jones, and jeff schwartz.

Research conducted by MIT SMR and Deloitte examines the challenges companies and managers face in leading and coordinating workforces that increasingly rely on external contributors.

#5 Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Culture

Donald sull, charles sull, william cipolli, and caio brighenti.

According to research, the five most common elements of toxic workplace cultures — being disrespectful, noninclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive — contribute the most to employee attrition and can damage company reputation. Being aware of these elements and understanding how they spread can help employers prevent and address them.

#6 Building the Cognitive Budget for Your Most Effective Mind

Jordan birnbaum.

There’s a limit to how much mental energy is available to us on any given day, so it’s essential that we spend it deliberately and thoughtfully. This article details the process of creating a cognitive budget, using techniques from positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and behavioral economics.

#7 Stop Telling Employees to Be Resilient

Liz fosslien and mollie west duffy.

When it comes to leadership, there’s a difference between demanding that employees be mentally tough and actually helping them take care of their mental health. The authors suggest five actions leaders can take to create a workplace that supports employees and fosters resilience.

#8 Effective Leaders Decide About Deciding

Nancy duarte.

Categorizing decisions by riskiness and urgency helps clarify when employees should move autonomously and when they should pull leaders into decision-making.

#9 leading change means changing how you lead, b. tom hunsaker and jonathan knowles.

Adapting your leadership approach is necessary for achieving the change your organization requires. The authors discuss three tasks — drawing the map, establishing the mindset, and communicating the message — that are essential to becoming a contextually effective leader.

#10 How Well-Designed Work Makes Us Smarter

Sharon k. parker and gwenith g. fisher.

Work that permits autonomy and demands problem-solving can bolster employees’ cognitive skills and ongoing learning. This article looks at how organizations and managers can use good work design to strengthen their workforce’s ability to adapt to new processes, tools, and roles.

About the Author

Ally MacDonald ( @allymacdonald ) is senior editor at MIT Sloan Management Review .

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The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2022

In our annual ritual, we pored over hundreds of educational studies and pulled out the most impactful—from a new study on the sneaky power of sketchnotes to research that linked relationships and rigor.

This past year didn’t feel normal, exactly, but compared with the last few trips around the sun, well—it sufficed. In 2021, when we sat down to write our annual edition of the research highlights, we were in the throes of postpandemic recovery and wrote about the impact of a grueling year in which burnout and issues of mental and physical health affected educators everywhere.

This year, we crossed our fingers and turned to best practices once again, reviewing hundreds of studies to identify the most impactful and insightful educational strategies we could find.

What turned up?

We found evidence that sheds new light on the misunderstood power of brain breaks, took a close look at research that finds a surprising—even counterintuitive—rationale for teachers to focus on relationships, and located both the humor and the merit in asking kids to slither like a snake as they learn about the “sss” sound of the letter S .

All that, and a lot more too, in our once-a-year roundup that follows.

1. There’s No Conflict Between Relationships and Rigor

Observers sometimes assume that teachers who radiate empathy, kindness, and openness are “soft” and can be taken advantage of by students. But new research shows that when you signal that you care about kids, they’re willing to go the extra mile, giving you the flexibility to assign more challenging school work.

That’s the main takeaway from a 2022 study that examined teaching practices in 285 districts, comparing relationship-building strategies with the flexibility that teachers had in assigning challenging and complex work. The researchers found that the most effective teachers build their classrooms by getting to know their students, being approachable, and showing that they enjoy the work—and then deftly translate emotional capital into academic capital.

“When students feel teachers care about them, they work harder, engage in more challenging academic activities, behave more appropriately for the school environment, are genuinely happy to see their teacher, and meet or exceed their teacher’s expectations,” the researchers conclude.

2. Highlighting Isn’t Very Effective Until Teachers Step In

Students often highlight the wrong information and may rely on their deficient highlighting skills as a primary study strategy, leading to poor learning outcomes, a new analysis of 36 studies suggests. As little as two hours of tutoring, however, can dramatically improve their capabilities.

The researchers determined that “learner-generated highlighting” tended to improve retention of material, but not comprehension. When students were taught proper highlighting techniques by teachers, however—for example, how to distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas—they dramatically improved their academic performance. Crucially, “when highlighting is used in conjunction with another learning strategy” like “graphic organizers or post-questions,” its effectiveness soars, the researchers said.

The need for explicit teaching may be linked to changing reading habits as students graduate from stories and fables to expository texts, which require them to navigate unfamiliar text formats, the researchers note. To bring kids up to speed, show them “examples of appropriate and inappropriate highlighting,” teach them to “highlight content relatively sparingly,” and provide examples of follow-on tactics like summarizing their insights to drive deeper comprehension.

3. A Landmark Study Strikes a Resounding Note for Inclusion

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act called for greater inclusion—mandating that students with disabilities receive support in the “least restrictive environment”—one goal was to ensure that educational accommodations didn’t interfere with the students’ social and emotional development in classrooms full of their peers. The law also confronted age-old prejudices and established a binding legal obligation in favor of inclusion.

But thus far, rigorous evidence of the academic benefits has been thin.

Now a new large-scale study appears to put the matter beyond dispute. When researchers tracked nearly 24,000 adolescents who qualified for special education, they discovered that spending a majority of the day—at least 80 percent—in general education classes improved reading scores by a whopping 24 points and math scores by 18 points, compared with scores of their more isolated peers with similar disabilities.

“Treat the general education classroom as the default classroom,” the researchers firmly state, and push for separate accommodations only when all other options have been exhausted.

4. Sketchnotes and Concept Maps Work—Even Better Than You Might Think

Simple concept maps, sketchnotes, and other annotated jottings—akin to doodling with a purpose—can facilitate deeper comprehension of materials than more polished drawings, a new study finds.

Representational drawings, such as a simple diagram of a cell, may help students remember factual information, the researchers explain, but they “lack features to make generalizations or inferences based on that information.” Organizational drawings that link concepts with arrows, annotations, and other relational markings give students a clearer sense of the big picture, allow them to visualize how ideas are connected, and provide a method for spotting obvious gaps in their understanding. On tests of higher-order thinking, fifth graders who made organizational drawings outperformed their peers who tried representational drawings by 300 percent.

To reap the benefits in class, have students start with simple diagrams to help remember the material, and then move them up to sketchnotes and concept maps as they tease out connections to prior knowledge.

5. Brain Breaks Are Misunderstood (and Underutilized)

Conventional wisdom holds that the development of a skill comes from active, repeated practice: It’s the act of dribbling a basketball that ultimately teaches the basketball star.

But recent studies reveal that the intervals between practice sessions are at least as crucial. In 2021, researchers used brain scans to observe neural networks as young adults learned how to type. During breaks, the brains of the participants appeared to head back to the keyboards, unconsciously replaying the typing sequences over and over again at high rates of speed as they flipped the material between processing and memory centers dozens of times in the span of 10 seconds. The researchers concluded that brain breaks play “just as important a role as practice in learning a new skill.”

In 2022, we learned that the kinds of breaks make a difference, too. One study compared in-classroom breaks like drawing or building puzzles with outdoor breaks like running or playing in sandboxes. In a nod to the power of movement—and free time—it was the kids playing outside who returned to class ready to learn, probably because indoor games, like indoor voices, required children to engage in more self-regulation, the researchers speculated. Meanwhile, an analysis examining “green breaks” —brief strolls in a park or visits to a school garden—concluded that students who partook in the activities performed better on tests of attention and working memory.

Depriving kids of regular breaks, it turns out, is a threat to the whole proposition of learning. To commit lessons to memory, the brain demands its own time—which it sets aside to clean up and consolidate new material.

6. On Classroom Design, an Argument for Caution—and Common Sense

When it comes time to decorate their classrooms, teachers often find themselves on the horns of a dilemma: Should they aim for Pinterest-worthy interior design or opt for blank walls on the strength of research that emphasizes the risks of distracting students?

A study published in February this year argues for minimalism. Researchers tracked the on-task behavior of K–2 students and concluded that visually ”streamlined” classrooms produced more focused students than “decorated” ones. During short read-alouds about topics like rainbows and plate tectonics, for example, young kids in classrooms free of “charts, posters, and manipulatives” were paying attention at significantly higher rates.

But it might not be a simple question of more or less. A 2014 study confirmed that posters of women scientists or diverse historical figures, for example, can improve students’ sense of belonging. And a recent study that observed 3,766 children in 153 schools concluded that classrooms that occupied a visual middle ground—neither too cluttered nor too austere—produced the best academic outcomes. A 2022 study reached similar conclusions.

Classroom decoration can alter academic trajectories, the research suggests, but the task shouldn’t stress teachers out. The rules appear to be relatively straightforward: Hang academically relevant, supportive work on the walls, and avoid the extremes—working within the broad constraints suggested by common sense and moderation.

7. For Young Children, the Power of Play-Based Learning

Children aren’t miniature adults, but a bias toward adult perspectives of childhood, with its attendant schedules and routines, has gradually exerted a stranglehold on our educational system nonetheless, suggests the author and early childhood educator Erika Christakis.

How can we let little kids be little while meeting the academic expectations of typical schools? A new analysis of 39 studies spanning several decades plots a middle path for educators, highlighting the way that play gently guided by adults, often called play-based learning, can satisfy both objectives.

Teachers of young students can have a “learning goal” in mind, but true play-based learning should incorporate wonder and exploration, be child-led when possible, and give students “freedom and choice over their actions and play behavior,” the researchers assert. Interrupt the flow of learning only when necessary: gently nudge students who might find activities too hard or too easy, for example. The playful approach improved early math and task-switching skills, compared with more traditional tactics that emphasize the explicit acquisition of skills, researchers concluded.

To get the pedagogy right, focus on relationships and ask questions that prompt wonder. “Rich, open-ended conversation is critical,” Christakis told Edutopia in a 2019 interview —children need time "to converse with each other playfully, to tell a rambling story to an adult, to listen to high-quality literature and ask meaningful questions.”

8. A Better Way to Learn Your ABCs

Getting young kids to match a letter to its corresponding sound is a first-order reading skill. To help students grasp that the letter c makes the plosive “cuh” sound in car , teachers often use pictures as scaffolds or have children write the letter repeatedly while making its sound.

A new study suggests that sound-letter pairs are learned much more effectively when whole-body movements are integrated into lessons. Five- and 6-year-olds in the study spent eight weeks practicing movements for each letter of the alphabet, slithering like a snake as they hissed the sibilant “sss” sound, for example. The researchers found that whole-body movement improved students’ ability to recall letter-sound pairings and doubled their ability to recognize hard-to-learn sounds—such as the difference between the sounds that c makes in cat and sauce —when compared with students who simply wrote and spoke letter-sound pairings at their desks.

The approach can make a big difference in the acquisition of a life-changing skill. Educators should “incorporate movement-based teaching” into their curricula, giving special consideration to “whole-body movement,” the researchers conclude.

9. Why Learners Push the Pause Button

Some of the benefits of videotaped lessons are so self-evident that they hide in plain sight.

When teaching students foundational concepts, a video lesson equipped with a simple pause button, for example, may allow students to reset cognitively as they reach their attentional limits, a 2022 study concluded. Pause buttons, like rewind buttons, are also crucial for learners who encounter “complex learning materials,” have “low prior knowledge,” or exhibit “low working memory capacities.”

Increasingly, the intrinsic value of targeted video lessons is borne out in research. In a feature on Edutopia , we looked at research suggesting that video learning supported self-pacing and flexible, 24/7 access to lessons; that questions embedded in videos improved academic performance, increased note-taking, and reduced stress (see these 2015 and 2020 studies); and that video versions of lectures tended to “make content more coherent ” to students.

To modernize their classrooms, teachers might record their most important lessons and make them available to students as study aids so they can pause, rewind, and review to their hearts’ content.

10. An Authoritative Study of Two High-Impact Learning Strategies

Spacing and retrieval practices are two of the most effective ways to drive long-term retention, confirms an authoritative 2022 review spanning hundreds of studies on the topic—and students should know how and why the strategies are effective.

In the review, researchers explain that students who prefer techniques like reading and rereading material in intense cram sessions are bound to fail. Instead, students should think of learning as a kind of “fitness routine” during which they practice recalling the material from memory and space out their learning sessions over time. Teaching kids to self-quiz or summarize from memory—and then try it again—is the crucial first step in disabusing students of their “false beliefs about learning.”

The effect sizes are hard to ignore. In a 2015 study , for example, third-grade students who studied a lesson about the sun and then reread the same material scored 53 percent on a follow-up test, the equivalent of a failing grade, while their peers who studied it once and then answered practice questions breezed by with an 87 percent score. And in a 2021 study , middle school students who solved a dozen math problems spread out across three weeks scored 21 percentage points higher on a follow-up math test than students who solved all 12 problems on the same day.

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The dizzying pace of research and innovation at MIT can make it hard to keep up. To mark the end of the year, MIT News is looking back at 10 of the research stories that generated the most excitement in 2022.

We’ve also rounded up the year’s top MIT community-related stories .

Designing a heat engine with no moving parts . In April, engineers at MIT and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) designed a heat engine that might someday enable a fully decarbonized power grid. In demonstrations, the engine was able to convert heat to electricity with over 40 percent efficiency — a performance better than that of traditional steam turbines.
Creating a lightweight material stronger than steel . In February, MIT chemical engineers used a new polymerization process to form a material that that is stronger than steel and as light as plastic, and can be easily manufactured in large quantities. The material could be used as a coating for car parts or as a building material for bridges and other structures.
Enabling portable desalination at the push of a button . MIT researchers developed a suitcase-sized device that can remove particles and salts to generate drinking water. Unlike other desalination units that rely on filters, this device uses electrical power to purify the water. It requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger and can be driven by a small solar panel. Just push start.
Linking human genes to function . A team of researchers created the first map tying every gene expressed in human cells to its job in the cell. The map, which is available for other scientists to use, makes it easier to study a range of biological questions. The map was created using a CRISPR-based single-cell sequencing method known as Perturb-seq.
Improving supercomputing with a new programming language . A team of researchers based mainly at MIT invented a faster and more reliable programming language for high-performance computing. The language, which was tested on a number of small programs, could one day help computers with a number of deep learning tasks like image processing.
Lifting people out of extreme poverty . A study co-authored by an MIT economist showed that a one-time capital boost (in this case, a cow) helped poor people in rural Bangladesh improve their lives in the long run. The study suggests the very poor are in a poverty trap, in which an initial lack of resources prevents them from improving their circumstances, and implies that large asset transfers are an effective way to reduce global poverty.
Helping robots fly . Inspired by fireflies, MIT researchers created tiny actuators that emit light to allow insect-scale robots to communicate. Weighing barely more than a paper clip, the robots are too small to make use of traditional means of sensing and communication. Instead, the actuators that control the robots’ wings light up in different colors and patterns, which could enable them to do things like share their location and call for help.
Detecting a radio signal in a far-off galaxy . In July, astronomers at MIT and elsewhere were surprised to find a periodic fast radio burst (FRB) originating billions of light-years from Earth. It is the longest lasting FRB pattern detected to date and is made up of intensely strong radio waves that repeat every 0.2 seconds, similar to a heartbeat. Astronomers suspect the signal is coming from a neutron star.
Proposal for a new, low-cost battery design . Researchers at MIT developed a battery made from abundant, inexpensive materials to complement the rise of lithium-ion batteries. The new battery uses aluminum and sulfur as its two electrode materials and a molten salt electrolyte in between. It could be ideal for powering single homes or small to medium sized businesses, producing a few tens of kilowatt-hours of storage capacity.
Immigrants as job creators . A study co-authored by an MIT economist found that compared to native-born citizens, immigrants are about 80 percent more likely to found a firm. The study, which looked at registered businesses of all types across the country, suggests that immigrants act more as "job creators" than "job takers" and play outsized roles in high-growth entrepreneurship in the U.S.

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The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2022

Two intense years of pandemic distancing and disruption gave way to another sort of distress in 2022—a year of soul searching, burnout, and quiet quitting.

The 10 most-read articles on Harvard Business School Working Knowledge showed a year that had many asking: “Is this what I really want?” Of course, new COVID-19 variants, rampant inflation, a labor shortage, and the sometimes awkward adjustment to new work arrangements didn’t help the mood. And yet, despite all these challenges, many leaders were determined to move forward, prioritizing digital transformation, racial equity, and collaboration.

1. Scrap the Big New Year's Resolutions. Make 6 Simple Changes Instead.

Self-improvement doesn't need to be painful. Rather than set yet another gym goal, look inward, retrain your brain, and get outside, says Hirotaka Takeuchi .

2. More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

It's not about the bigger home or the better vacation. Financial stability helps people escape the everyday hassles of life, says research by Jon Jachimowicz .

3. Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

Transforming an organization starts with transforming its leaders. Data from 1,700 executives by Linda Hill and colleagues reveals the most important skills and traits leaders need now.

4. When Working Harder Doesn’t Work, Time to Reinvent Your Career

The second half of your life could be better than the first. Really. In the book From Strength to Strength , Arthur Brooks shows how letting go of past glory can open the possibilities of life's "second curve."

5. Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

Digital transformation seems like a journey without end, but many companies are forging ahead. Linda Hill and colleagues reveal six qualities that set digitally mature organizations apart.

6. Digital Transformation: A New Roadmap for Success

Is your company reaping the rewards of digital transformation yet? Linda Hill and colleagues offer seven guiding principles for transformations at any stage—nascent, progressing, or stalled.

7. Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

After the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Dick's Sporting Goods' CEO declared: "I don't want to be part of the story anymore." Two new case studies by George Riedel go inside the retailer's decision to remove certain firearms from stores and restrict gun sales.

8. You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job to Find More Meaning in Life

Before you give notice and go on a vision quest, consider this: Fulfillment doesn't require big change, says research by Julian De Freitas and colleagues. In fact, you can find more meaning even in a job you don't love.

9. Rituals at Work: Teams That Play Together Stay Together

Rituals—even seemingly silly ones—help employees bond and add meaning to their work, says research by Michael Norton , Francesca Gino , and colleagues. Who wouldn't welcome a workday pick-me-up?

10. When Parents Tell Kids to ‘Work Hard,’ Do They Send the Wrong Message?

It takes more than grit to succeed in a world rife with systemic inequity. So why don't we tell children that? Research by Ashley Whillans and colleagues shows how honest talk about social barriers could empower kids to break them down.

And don’t forget these:

Does Hybrid Work Actually Work? Insights from 30,000 Emails

How often should employees come to the office? In the first large-scale study of its kind, Prithwiraj Choudhury finds that hybrid schedules might offer the best answer for everyone.

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

Research by Alberto Cavallo probes the complex interplay of product shortages, prices, and inflation.

Feeling Seen: What to Say When Your Employees Are Not OK

Managers who let down their guard and acknowledge their employees' emotions can ease distress and build trust, says research by Julian Zlatev and colleagues.

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

Companies have long ignored the factors that are burning out employees. Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson offer a five-step approach for leaders who are ready to support their talent.

Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at [email protected] .

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2022 Research Highlights — Promising Medical Findings

Results with potential for enhancing human health.

With NIH support, scientists across the United States and around the world conduct wide-ranging research to discover ways to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. Groundbreaking NIH-funded research often receives top scientific honors. In 2022, these honors included two NIH-supported scientists who received Nobel Prizes . Here’s just a small sample of the NIH-supported promising medical findings in 2022. For more health and medical research findings from NIH, visit NIH Research Matters .

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Study suggests Epstein-Barr virus may cause multiple sclerosis

The underlying causes of multiple sclerosis, a devastating autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, have been unclear. Using blood samples from more than 10 million people, researchers found that previous infection with Epstein-Barr virus dramatically increased the odds of developing multiple sclerosis. The finding suggests that vaccines against Epstein-Barr could help prevent the disease.

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Getting ahead of COVID-19 variants

Vaccines and treatments have lowered the risk of severe disease and death from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but new variants continue to pose challenges. Researchers have refined how to use wastewater sampling to track variants of the virus throughout entire cities. Others confirmed that rapid tests developed for earlier versions of SARS-CoV-2 can still identify current variants of concern and interest . Scientists developed new treatments now undergoing further testing, such as a nasal spray to prevent or treat COVID-19 . And an experimental vaccine, tested in animals, produced an immune response to a wide range of coronaviruses , including some that weren't part of the vaccine—suggesting the vaccine could protect against future variants of SARS-CoV-2 as well as other coronaviruses.

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Boy asleep at a desk with his head on a book

Highlighting the importance of sleep

A good night’s sleep is vital for health at all ages. In a randomized clinical trial, overweight adults who increased how much they slept also took in fewer calories , with enough of a reduction to lead to clinically important weight loss over time. Another large study found that pre-teens who slept less than nine hours daily had differences in brain structure and more problems with mood and thinking compared to those who got sufficient sleep. These results highlight the importance of adequate sleep to improve both physical and mental health.

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Blood vessels after treatment with OrganEx.

Restoring cell and organ function after the heart stops

Without a steady supply of oxygen from the blood, the process of cell death begins within minutes. In a new study, researchers developed a system that restored cellular function in a pig’s organs more than an hour after its heart stopped. With further improvements, such technology could eventually help repair organ damage from heart attack or stroke. It might also be used to preserve organs for transplantation.

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Impacts of racial segregation on health

Racial residential segregation—in which racial or ethnic groups live in separate, unequal neighborhoods—tends to concentrate factors that contribute to racial disparities in health. In a study of housing and health, researchers found that racial residential segregation may compound the harms of lead exposure and impede children's cognitive development. Another study found that air pollution in racially segregated communities contained more toxic metals than in well-integrated communities . These results show the importance of a holistic approach, including health, environment, and society, to reducing such disparities.

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A graduate student sleeps with a breathing belt

Night breathing patterns identify people with Parkinson’s disease

Currently, there are no markers that can be easily measured in the blood or with imaging tests to diagnose Parkinson's disease. In a new study, an advanced computer program was able to identify people with Parkinson’s disease from their breathing patterns during sleep. It could also track small changes in the disease over time. If these results are confirmed, such a program could help in the early detection of Parkinson’s disease.

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Numerous HIV particles surrounding a cell, with some emerging from it

Progress toward an eventual HIV vaccine

Developing a vaccine against HIV has been challenging because there are countless variants worldwide, and the immune system doesn’t normally make antibodies that can protect against such wide-ranging variants. Researchers have made recent progress in overcoming these hurdles. In one new study, scientists delivered an experimental HIV vaccine to monkeys using increasing doses over several days. This slow vaccine delivery led to long-lasting and diverse antibody production . In other research, an experimental HIV vaccine elicited broadly neutralizing antibody precursors in people , a crucial step toward making antibodies that can neutralize many HIV strains at once. With further development, such approaches could eventually lead to an effective vaccine strategy for HIV and AIDS.

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Illustration of a brain on a circuit board, with one area brightened

Machine learning approach detects brain tumor boundaries

Glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor, can be hard to distinguish from normal brain tissue, complicating treatments such as surgery. In a new study using technology called federated machine learning, data from thousands of patients with glioblastoma were used to develop an accurate model for detecting tumor boundaries while preserving patient privacy. This approach could be adapted to provide insights in other fields where data are scarce, such as rare diseases or underrepresented populations.

2022 Research Highlights — Basic Research Insights >>

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Science News

These are the most popular science news stories of 2022.

photo of the remains of an Inca child bundled in a textile and wearing a ceremonial headdress

Previously excavated bodies of two ritually sacrificed Inca children, including this girl still wearing a ceremonial headdress, have yielded chemical clues to a beverage that may have been used to calm them in the days or weeks before being killed. The discovery ranked among Science News ' most-read stories of 2022.

Johan Reinhard

2. A ‘mystery monkey’ in Borneo may be a rare hybrid. That has scientists worried

An unusual monkey first spotted six years ago appears to be a cross between a female silvered leaf monkey ( Trachypithecus cristatus ) and a male proboscis monkey ( Nasalis larvatus ). The possible cross-genera pairing has scientists worried because such matings are usually a sign that species are facing ecological pressures ( SN: 6/18/22, p. 11 ).

3. What experts told me to do after my positive COVID-19 at-home test

After Science News intern Anna Gibbs came down with COVID-19, she turned to health experts to figure out how to report her case to public health officials and how long she needed to isolate ( SN Online: 4/22/22 ).

4. All of the bases in DNA and RNA have now been found in meteorites

Here’s more evidence that life’s precursors could have come from space. All five of the nucleobases that store information in DNA and RNA have been discovered in meteorites. This year, scientists reported detecting cytosine and thymine in fallen space rocks , completing the list ( SN: 6/4/22, p. 7 ).

5. Humans may not be able to handle as much heat as scientists thought

For years, it was thought the human body can tolerate heat up to a “wet bulb” temperature — a measure combining humidity and air temperature — of 35° Celsius (95° Fahrenheit). But experiments hint that the threshold may be several degrees lower ( SN: 8/27/22, p. 6 ).

Science News joins TikTok

TikTok became one more way we tell stories, as we premiered our first TikTok video — a tribute to the “bambootula” tarantula. Find out what makes this spider so peculiar and discover other amazing science tidbits @sciencenewsofficial .

@sciencenewsofficial This is the only known tarantula to call bamboo home. #spiders #tarantula #science #biology #sciencetok ♬ original sound – sciencenewsofficial

2. Muons spill secrets about Earth’s hidden structures

Just like doctors use X-rays to see inside the human body, scientists are using muons , a type of subatomic particle, to peer inside Egyptian pyramids, volcanoes and other hard to penetrate structures ( SN: 4/23/22, p. 22 ).

3. Multiple sclerosis has a common viral culprit, opening doors to new approaches

Evidence is mounting that Epstein-Barr virus somehow instigates multiple sclerosis. Understanding the link between the virus and MS may lead to better treatments for the neurological disorder. Vaccines against the virus may even prevent MS altogether ( SN: 8/13/22, p. 14 ).

4. The discovery of the Kuiper Belt revamped our view of the solar system

In 1992, two astronomers discovered a doughnut-shaped region far beyond Neptune, dubbed the Kuiper Belt, that’s home to a swarm of frozen objects left over from the solar system’s formation. By studying these far-off objects over the last 30 years, scientists have gained new insights into how planets form ( SN: 8/27/22, p. 22 ).

5. Clovis hunters’ reputation as mammoth killers takes a hit

Ancient Americans may have been big-game scavengers rather than big-game hunters. Some recent analyses suggest that Clovis stone points were more likely tools for butchering large carcasses than weapons for taking down mammoths and other large animals ( SN: 1/15/22, p. 22 ).

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A Complete Guide To Customer Acquisition For Startups

Any business is enlivened by its customers. Therefore, a strategy to constantly bring in new clients is an ongoing requirement. In this regard, having a proper customer acquisition strategy can be of great importance.

So, if you are just starting your business, or planning to expand it, read on to learn more about this concept.

The problem with customer acquisition

As an organization, when working in a diverse and competitive market like India, you need to have a well-defined customer acquisition strategy to attain success. However, this is where most startups struggle. Now, you may have a great product or service, but if you are not in the right place targeting the right demographic, you are not likely to get the results you want.

To resolve this, typically, companies invest, but if that is not channelized properly, it will be futile.

So, the best way out of this dilemma is to have a clear customer acquisition strategy in place.

How can you create the ideal customer acquisition strategy for your business?

Define what your goals are

You need to define your goals so that you can meet the revenue expectations you have for the current fiscal year. You need to find a value for the metrics –

MRR – Monthly recurring revenue, which tells you all the income that can be generated from all your income channels.
CLV – Customer lifetime value tells you how much a customer is willing to spend on your business during your mutual relationship duration.
CAC – Customer acquisition costs, which tells how much your organization needs to spend to acquire customers constantly.
Churn rate – It tells you the rate at which customers stop doing business.

All these metrics tell you how well you will be able to grow your business and revenue.

Identify your ideal customers

You need to understand who your current customers are and who your target customers are. Once you are aware of your customer base, you can focus your energies in that direction and get the maximum sale of your products or services. You can also understand what your customers require through various analytics and markers and address them to leverage your products/services towards them.

Choose your channels for customer acquisition

How will you acquire customers who will eventually tell at what scale and at what rate you need to expand your business? You could market and sell your products on social media channels like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, or invest in paid marketing like Google Ads. You need to develop a unique strategy for each of these channels.

Communicate with your customers

If you know exactly what your customers have in mind, then you will be able to develop your customer strategy with a clear perspective in mind. You can do it through surveys or customer opinion forms, email contact forms, blog posts and social media posts. After that, you just need to measure the analytics, clearly understand the insights, and improve your strategy accordingly.

Combining these strategies with your long-term business plan will bring results. However, there will be challenges on the way, where you need to adapt as per the requirements to make the most of it. At the same time, introducing new technologies like AI and ML can also solve such issues easily. To learn more about the use of AI and ML and how they are transforming businesses, keep referring to the blog section of E2E Networks.

Reference Links

https://www.helpscout.com/customer-acquisition/

https://www.cloudways.com/blog/customer-acquisition-strategy-for-startups/

https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-acquisition

This is a decorative image for: Constructing 3D objects through Deep Learning

Image-based 3D Object Reconstruction State-of-the-Art and trends in the Deep Learning Era

3D reconstruction is one of the most complex issues of deep learning systems . There have been multiple types of research in this field, and almost everything has been tried on it — computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning, but to no avail. However, that has resulted in CNN or convolutional neural networks foraying into this field, which has yielded some success.

The Main Objective of the 3D Object Reconstruction

Developing this deep learning technology aims to infer the shape of 3D objects from 2D images. So, to conduct the experiment, you need the following:

Highly calibrated cameras that take a photograph of the image from various angles.
Large training datasets can predict the geometry of the object whose 3D image reconstruction needs to be done. These datasets can be collected from a database of images, or they can be collected and sampled from a video.

By using the apparatus and datasets, you will be able to proceed with the 3D reconstruction from 2D datasets.

State-of-the-art Technology Used by the Datasets for the Reconstruction of 3D Objects

The technology used for this purpose needs to stick to the following parameters:

Training with the help of one or multiple RGB images, where the segmentation of the 3D ground truth needs to be done. It could be one image, multiple images or even a video stream.

The testing will also be done on the same parameters, which will also help to create a uniform, cluttered background, or both.

The volumetric output will be done in both high and low resolution, and the surface output will be generated through parameterisation, template deformation and point cloud. Moreover, the direct and intermediate outputs will be calculated this way.

Network architecture used

The architecture used in training is 3D-VAE-GAN, which has an encoder and a decoder, with TL-Net and conditional GAN. At the same time, the testing architecture is 3D-VAE, which has an encoder and a decoder.

Training used

The degree of supervision used in 2D vs 3D supervision, weak supervision along with loss functions have to be included in this system. The training procedure is adversarial training with joint 2D and 3D embeddings. Also, the network architecture is extremely important for the speed and processing quality of the output images.

Practical applications and use cases

Volumetric representations and surface representations can do the reconstruction. Powerful computer systems need to be used for reconstruction.

Given below are some of the places where 3D Object Reconstruction Deep Learning Systems are used:

3D reconstruction technology can be used in the Police Department for drawing the faces of criminals whose images have been procured from a crime site where their faces are not completely revealed.
It can be used for re-modelling ruins at ancient architectural sites. The rubble or the debris stubs of structures can be used to recreate the entire building structure and get an idea of how it looked in the past.
They can be used in plastic surgery where the organs, face, limbs or any other portion of the body has been damaged and needs to be rebuilt.
It can be used in airport security, where concealed shapes can be used for guessing whether a person is armed or is carrying explosives or not.
It can also help in completing DNA sequences.

So, if you are planning to implement this technology, then you can rent the required infrastructure from E2E Networks and avoid investing in it. And if you plan to learn more about such topics, then keep a tab on the blog section of the website .

https://tongtianta.site/paper/68922

https://github.com/natowi/3D-Reconstruction-with-Deep-Learning-Methods

This is a decorative image for: Comprehensive Guide to Deep Q-Learning for Data Science Enthusiasts

A Comprehensive Guide To Deep Q-Learning For Data Science Enthusiasts

For all data science enthusiasts who would love to dig deep, we have composed a write-up about Q-Learning specifically for you all. Deep Q-Learning and Reinforcement learning (RL) are extremely popular these days. These two data science methodologies use Python libraries like TensorFlow 2 and openAI’s Gym environment.

So, read on to know more.

What is Deep Q-Learning?

Deep Q-Learning utilizes the principles of Q-learning, but instead of using the Q-table, it uses the neural network. The algorithm of deep Q-Learning uses the states as input and the optimal Q-value of every action possible as the output. The agent gathers and stores all the previous experiences in the memory of the trained tuple in the following order:

State> Next state> Action> Reward

The neural network training stability increases using a random batch of previous data by using the experience replay. Experience replay also means the previous experiences stocking, and the target network uses it for training and calculation of the Q-network and the predicted Q-Value. This neural network uses openAI Gym, which is provided by taxi-v3 environments.

Now, any understanding of Deep Q-Learning is incomplete without talking about Reinforcement Learning.

What is Reinforcement Learning?

Reinforcement is a subsection of ML. This part of ML is related to the action in which an environmental agent participates in a reward-based system and uses Reinforcement Learning to maximize the rewards. Reinforcement Learning is a different technique from unsupervised learning or supervised learning because it does not require a supervised input/output pair. The number of corrections is also less, so it is a highly efficient technique.

Now, the understanding of reinforcement learning is incomplete without knowing about Markov Decision Process (MDP). MDP is involved with each state that has been presented in the results of the environment, derived from the state previously there. The information which composes both states is gathered and transferred to the decision process. The task of the chosen agent is to maximize the awards. The MDP optimizes the actions and helps construct the optimal policy.

For developing the MDP, you need to follow the Q-Learning Algorithm, which is an extremely important part of data science and machine learning.

What is Q-Learning Algorithm?

The process of Q-Learning is important for understanding the data from scratch. It involves defining the parameters, choosing the actions from the current state and also choosing the actions from the previous state and then developing a Q-table for maximizing the results or output rewards.

The 4 steps that are involved in Q-Learning:

Initializing parameters – The RL (reinforcement learning) model learns the set of actions that the agent requires in the state, environment and time.
Identifying current state – The model stores the prior records for optimal action definition for maximizing the results. For acting in the present state, the state needs to be identified and perform an action combination for it.
Choosing the optimal action set and gaining the relevant experience – A Q-table is generated from the data with a set of specific states and actions, and the weight of this data is calculated for updating the Q-Table to the following step.
Updating Q-table rewards and next state determination – After the relevant experience is gained and agents start getting environmental records. The reward amplitude helps to present the subsequent step.

In case the Q-table size is huge, then the generation of the model is a time-consuming process. This situation requires Deep Q-learning.

Hopefully, this write-up has provided an outline of Deep Q-Learning and its related concepts. If you wish to learn more about such topics, then keep a tab on the blog section of the E2E Networks website.

https://analyticsindiamag.com/comprehensive-guide-to-deep-q-learning-for-data-science-enthusiasts/

https://medium.com/@jereminuerofficial/a-comprehensive-guide-to-deep-q-learning-8aeed632f52f

GAUDI: A Neural Architect for Immersive 3D Scene Generation

The evolution of artificial intelligence in the past decade has been staggering, and now the focus is shifting towards AI and ML systems to understand and generate 3D spaces. As a result, there has been extensive research on manipulating 3D generative models. In this regard, Apple’s AI and ML scientists have developed GAUDI, a method specifically for this job.

An introduction to GAUDI

The GAUDI 3D immersive technique founders named it after the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. This AI model takes the help of a camera pose decoder, which enables it to guess the possible camera angles of a scene. Hence, the decoder then makes it possible to predict the 3D canvas from almost every angle.

What does GAUDI do?

GAUDI can perform multiple functions –

The extensions of these generative models have a tremendous effect on ML and computer vision. Pragmatically, such models are highly useful. They are applied in model-based reinforcement learning and planning world models, SLAM is s, or 3D content creation.
Generative modelling for 3D objects has been used for generating scenes using graf, pigan, and gsn, which incorporate a GAN (Generative Adversarial Network). The generator codes radiance fields exclusively. Using the 3D space in the scene along with the camera pose generates the 3D image from that point. This point has a density scalar and RGB value for that specific point in 3D space. This can be done from a 2D camera view. It does this by imposing 3D datasets on those 2D shots. It isolates various objects and scenes and combines them to render a new scene altogether.
GAUDI also removes GANs pathologies like mode collapse and improved GAN.
GAUDI also uses this to train data on a canonical coordinate system. You can compare it by looking at the trajectory of the scenes.

How is GAUDI applied to the content?

The steps of application for GAUDI have been given below:

Each trajectory is created, which consists of a sequence of posed images (These images are from a 3D scene) encoded into a latent representation. This representation which has a radiance field or what we refer to as the 3D scene and the camera path is created in a disentangled way. The results are interpreted as free parameters. The problem is optimized by and formulation of a reconstruction objective.
This simple training process is then scaled to trajectories, thousands of them creating a large number of views. The model samples the radiance fields totally from the previous distribution that the model has learned.
The scenes are thus synthesized by interpolation within the hidden space.
The scaling of 3D scenes generates many scenes that contain thousands of images. During training, there is no issue related to canonical orientation or mode collapse.
A novel de-noising optimization technique is used to find hidden representations that collaborate in modelling the camera poses and the radiance field to create multiple datasets with state-of-the-art performance in generating 3D scenes by building a setup that uses images and text.

To conclude, GAUDI has more capabilities and can also be used for sampling various images and video datasets. Furthermore, this will make a foray into AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality). With GAUDI in hand, the sky is only the limit in the field of media creation. So, if you enjoy reading about the latest development in the field of AI and ML, then keep a tab on the blog section of the E2E Networks website.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362323995_GAUDI_A_Neural_Architect_for_Immersive_3D_Scene_Generation

https://www.technology.org/2022/07/31/gaudi-a-neural-architect-for-immersive-3d-scene-generation/

https://www.patentlyapple.com/2022/08/apple-has-unveiled-gaudi-a-neural-architect-for-immersive-3d-scene-generation.html

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10 Hot Leadership Topics for 2022

Discover the top 10 hot leadership topics for 2022 and emerging trends that will shape the future of work, according to top HR and leadership influencers.

Publish Date: January 12, 2022

Read Time: 9 min

Author: Stephanie Neal

What are the hot leadership topics and trends emerging as we begin 2022? And how will these trends shape the future of work? There are clear signs that the turbulent changes of this past year have redefined the workplace. As a result, what’s required of leaders and companies to be successful has changed dramatically.

Each year for the past seven years, we’ve identified trending leadership topics by examining the content shared by 20 top influencers on Twitter. Based on this year’s analysis, hot leadership topics for 2022 are emerging due to the combined impact of high turnover and increasing uncertainty in how markets and economies will endure the continued challenges presented by the pandemic.

Topping the hot leadership topics list for 2022 are these 10 topics, in order of the most mentions across social influencers and posts:

1. Employee wellbeing soars as #1 priority

One silver lining of the pandemic is that businesses were forced to confront the necessities of safeguarding the health of their workforce and communities. As a result, wellbeing continues to be a top business priority. There can’t be productivity if people aren’t well, but this has also certainly extended to families.

Companies are now better supporting their employees and offering improved family benefits. This focus on wellbeing has also increased leaders’ awareness that they and their teams need time and support to take care of themselves and loved ones. Leaders’ concern and support for employee wellbeing will continue to be crucial in the coming year, especially as a top driver of retention .

2. The Great Resignation makes a culture change

With a record 4.5 million departures at the end of 2021, it’s clear that the Great Resignation isn’t slowing down anytime soon. However, growing economic uncertainties will lead more people to seek out stability at work. And as a result, employees will want to work for companies that have an essential quality: trust .

So, having a culture, and leaders, that people can trust is fast becoming a differentiator. And this is especially true given that trust in leadership and societal institutions is at an all-time low . Consequently, trust is something more companies are designing for as part of their leadership development programs .

Above all, leaders will continue to be central in building trust and securing employee loyalty for the foreseeable future.

3. Dissolution of skill stability

Reskilling has been a simmering hot topic for the past several years, especially as it applies to professional and technical skills. But the past year and a half may go down as the great shake-up for leadership skills. Traditional leader skillsets including communication which could once be mastered, now need to be refreshed for different, and virtual , contexts. The shift to remote and hybrid work has also left little doubt whether leadership development can be one and done.

As a result, leaders will continually need to refresh and develop skills. That they are willing to put in the work is clear from the additional learning time sought out to confront the COVID-19 crisis. Companies can help in keeping skills sharp by moving beyond static job descriptions and skills architecture that carried on from years past. Critical capabilities can also be defined on a more ongoing basis by establishing processes to revisit, iterate, and refresh Success Profiles in line with strategic business priorities.

4. The robots are here to help Human Resources

Automation stepped up this past year in many industries and will be ever more critical to ease talent shortages. For instance, nowhere is this more evident than in interactive voice response (IVR) systems that have relieved overwhelmed customer service centers.

Given the challenges that HR departments face in recruiting replacements for historic turnover, robots and automated tools may very well come to the rescue. Automating HR processes can similarly drive new efficiencies and increase speed-to-hire while leaving the more interesting and creative work to humans. Companies will need to lean on leaders who can effectively communicate and manage the impact of automation in order to be successful with these advancements.

5. New tension points for employee experience

Employee experience surged onto our hot topics list two years ago and continues to rise in importance within the current war for talent. Both 2020 and 2021 were key learning years for employees. And this was especially true for young professionals who developed high expectations in terms of how and where they can work.

The huge increase in work flexibility and alternate modes of employment have contributed to the fluidity of the workforce and increasing pace of turnover. Designing for flexibility will continue to be a tension point in employee experience, but so will learning and growth opportunities.

Along with flexibility, there’s an increasing desire for skill and career development that companies cannot afford to ignore. As a result, leaders will also have to adapt how they approach development discussions and opportunities. It will be more important for top talent to not only feel valued but be aware of their growth potential for the future.

6. Technology sets a pace that needs to be people-centered

The past year wrapped up technology advancements that built on a surge in digital transformation , particularly in the retail and hospitality industries. This doesn’t mean a low-touch future. Ensuring people are comfortable working with new technologies as they are implemented is critical. For HR, people-centricity is a must with any technologies that are sought out to more effectively recruit and hire. This is also true for technologies HR uses for employee learning and development experiences.

In addition, fully embracing AI and digital advancements requires leaders who are capable of seeing the potential of new technologies. This also requires leaders who can help implement or develop new technologies to solve business problems for the future.

7. Talent shortages fuel gains for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Companies have made significant strides to ramp up their DEI programs over the past year, but that hasn’t solved the great attraction problem. Hiring and retention will be more challenging than ever in the coming year, and DEI leaders have unique experiences that can help.

Companies will benefit from exploring new sources and leaning on DEI leaders’ expertise at attracting harder to find candidates. And as talent continues to depart at extraordinary rates, diversity will be a differentiator in attracting more candidates. Similarly, demonstrating a commitment to diversity and fostering inclusion will help attract new candidates. It will also keep diverse talent from leaving.

8. Remote work exposes new and old biases

Although remote work could be a level-setter for companies, and reduce the impact of negative office politics, it’s also exposing other biases. Proximity bias, favoring those who work closest to you, has emerged as central in the discussion about the risks of poorly managed hybrid work teams .

If companies want to ensure a fair and inclusive workplace, leaders must consider how they can better evaluate performance and potential in a mixed environment. And objective data is certainly critical to mitigate the risk of bias and inform leaders’ judgments. For example, data gathered through high-quality assessments can help leaders and companies reduce this risk by focusing selection and advancement decisions on individuals’ capabilities and experiences rather than limited observations.

9. New frontier for HR analytics

A common theme throughout several hot leadership topics this year is the need for better data, and nowhere is this more critical to establish than for HR. The shift away from in-person and traditional work models has meant big gains and expectations for people data and analytics.

But the most successful programs will not eliminate people from decisions. They will provide leaders with the technology tools they need to integrate real-time data. And this will enable faster, more data-driven, and objective decisions. Ultimately, this push towards intelligent people data systems will help organizations maintain a more bias-free and up-to-date view of the talent they have to grow for the future.

10. Ethics reigns in the war for talent

This year started off with a tough reminder that ethics has an important, but easily overlooked, place in business. Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, was found guilty of criminal charges and defrauding investors. There are many other examples outside of Silicon Valley of the heavy cost once-trusted brands paid to overlook or ignore ethics.

This hits at a time when ethics and company values have become more important to applicants. In a recent study, 82% of professionals said they would rather be paid less and work for a company with ethical business practices than receive higher pay at a company with questionable ethics. In the current war for talent, a company’s reputation and leadership can be the difference in attracting the talent they need.

In Conclusion:

What do hot leadership topics for 2022 mean for the future of work.

What do these trends mean for the future of work? No matter what the year ahead brings, it’s clear that companies and HR leaders will have to take a new approach to ensure they have effective and fair systems to hire and accelerate new talent. Leaders will continue to be central in building talent capabilities, making their role as coaches and models for growth more important than ever.

Above all, companies that continue to seek out and develop diverse capabilities for the future will be more likely to succeed in uncertain times, this year and beyond.

20 leadership and HR social influencers who posted content used in our topic analysis:

Explore DDI’s leadership development subscriptions .

Stephanie Neal is director of the Center for Analytics and Behavioral Research (CABER). She leads market and trend research focused on leadership and business innovation, and is general manager and lead author of DDI's Global Leadership Forecast.

Topics covered in this blog

HR & Talent Systems
Leadership Development

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Read our research on: Abortion | Podcasts | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

What the data says about abortion in the u.s..

Pew Research Center has conducted many surveys about abortion over the years, providing a lens into Americans’ views on whether the procedure should be legal, among a host of other questions.

In a Center survey conducted nearly a year after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion , 62% of U.S. adults said the practice should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Another survey conducted a few months before the decision showed that relatively few Americans take an absolutist view on the issue .

Find answers to common questions about abortion in America, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, which have tracked these patterns for several decades:

How many abortions are there in the U.S. each year?

How has the number of abortions in the u.s. changed over time, what is the abortion rate among women in the u.s. how has it changed over time, what are the most common types of abortion, how many abortion providers are there in the u.s., and how has that number changed, what percentage of abortions are for women who live in a different state from the abortion provider, what are the demographics of women who have had abortions, when during pregnancy do most abortions occur, how often are there medical complications from abortion.

This compilation of data on abortion in the United States draws mainly from two sources: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, both of which have regularly compiled national abortion data for approximately half a century, and which collect their data in different ways.

The CDC data that is highlighted in this post comes from the agency’s “abortion surveillance” reports, which have been published annually since 1974 (and which have included data from 1969). Its figures from 1973 through 1996 include data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and New York City – 52 “reporting areas” in all. Since 1997, the CDC’s totals have lacked data from some states (most notably California) for the years that those states did not report data to the agency. The four reporting areas that did not submit data to the CDC in 2021 – California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey – accounted for approximately 25% of all legal induced abortions in the U.S. in 2020, according to Guttmacher’s data. Most states, though, do have data in the reports, and the figures for the vast majority of them came from each state’s central health agency, while for some states, the figures came from hospitals and other medical facilities.

Discussion of CDC abortion data involving women’s state of residence, marital status, race, ethnicity, age, abortion history and the number of previous live births excludes the low share of abortions where that information was not supplied. Read the methodology for the CDC’s latest abortion surveillance report , which includes data from 2021, for more details. Previous reports can be found at stacks.cdc.gov by entering “abortion surveillance” into the search box.

For the numbers of deaths caused by induced abortions in 1963 and 1965, this analysis looks at reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. In computing those figures, we excluded abortions listed in the report under the categories “spontaneous or unspecified” or as “other.” (“Spontaneous abortion” is another way of referring to miscarriages.)

Guttmacher data in this post comes from national surveys of abortion providers that Guttmacher has conducted 19 times since 1973. Guttmacher compiles its figures after contacting every known provider of abortions – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, and it provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond to its inquiries. (In 2020, the last year for which it has released data on the number of abortions in the U.S., it used estimates for 12% of abortions.) For most of the 2000s, Guttmacher has conducted these national surveys every three years, each time getting abortion data for the prior two years. For each interim year, Guttmacher has calculated estimates based on trends from its own figures and from other data.

The latest full summary of Guttmacher data came in the institute’s report titled “Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States, 2020.” It includes figures for 2020 and 2019 and estimates for 2018. The report includes a methods section.

In addition, this post uses data from StatPearls, an online health care resource, on complications from abortion.

An exact answer is hard to come by. The CDC and the Guttmacher Institute have each tried to measure this for around half a century, but they use different methods and publish different figures.

The last year for which the CDC reported a yearly national total for abortions is 2021. It found there were 625,978 abortions in the District of Columbia and the 46 states with available data that year, up from 597,355 in those states and D.C. in 2020. The corresponding figure for 2019 was 607,720.

The last year for which Guttmacher reported a yearly national total was 2020. It said there were 930,160 abortions that year in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, compared with 916,460 in 2019.

How the CDC gets its data: It compiles figures that are voluntarily reported by states’ central health agencies, including separate figures for New York City and the District of Columbia. Its latest totals do not include figures from California, Maryland, New Hampshire or New Jersey, which did not report data to the CDC. ( Read the methodology from the latest CDC report .)
How Guttmacher gets its data: It compiles its figures after contacting every known abortion provider – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, then provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond. Guttmacher’s figures are higher than the CDC’s in part because they include data (and in some instances, estimates) from all 50 states. ( Read the institute’s latest full report and methodology .)

While the Guttmacher Institute supports abortion rights, its empirical data on abortions in the U.S. has been widely cited by groups and publications across the political spectrum, including by a number of those that disagree with its positions .

These estimates from Guttmacher and the CDC are results of multiyear efforts to collect data on abortion across the U.S. Last year, Guttmacher also began publishing less precise estimates every few months , based on a much smaller sample of providers.

The figures reported by these organizations include only legal induced abortions conducted by clinics, hospitals or physicians’ offices, or those that make use of abortion pills dispensed from certified facilities such as clinics or physicians’ offices. They do not account for the use of abortion pills that were obtained outside of clinical settings .

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A line chart showing the changing number of legal abortions in the U.S. since the 1970s.

The annual number of U.S. abortions rose for years after Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973, reaching its highest levels around the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. Since then, abortions have generally decreased at what a CDC analysis called “a slow yet steady pace.”

Guttmacher says the number of abortions occurring in the U.S. in 2020 was 40% lower than it was in 1991. According to the CDC, the number was 36% lower in 2021 than in 1991, looking just at the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported both of those years.

(The corresponding line graph shows the long-term trend in the number of legal abortions reported by both organizations. To allow for consistent comparisons over time, the CDC figures in the chart have been adjusted to ensure that the same states are counted from one year to the next. Using that approach, the CDC figure for 2021 is 622,108 legal abortions.)

There have been occasional breaks in this long-term pattern of decline – during the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, and then again in the late 2010s. The CDC reported modest 1% and 2% increases in abortions in 2018 and 2019, and then, after a 2% decrease in 2020, a 5% increase in 2021. Guttmacher reported an 8% increase over the three-year period from 2017 to 2020.

As noted above, these figures do not include abortions that use pills obtained outside of clinical settings.

Guttmacher says that in 2020 there were 14.4 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. Its data shows that the rate of abortions among women has generally been declining in the U.S. since 1981, when it reported there were 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in that age range.

The CDC says that in 2021, there were 11.6 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. (That figure excludes data from California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.) Like Guttmacher’s data, the CDC’s figures also suggest a general decline in the abortion rate over time. In 1980, when the CDC reported on all 50 states and D.C., it said there were 25 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.

That said, both Guttmacher and the CDC say there were slight increases in the rate of abortions during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Guttmacher says the abortion rate per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 rose from 13.5 in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020. The CDC says it rose from 11.2 per 1,000 in 2017 to 11.4 in 2019, before falling back to 11.1 in 2020 and then rising again to 11.6 in 2021. (The CDC’s figures for those years exclude data from California, D.C., Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.)

The CDC broadly divides abortions into two categories: surgical abortions and medication abortions, which involve pills. Since the Food and Drug Administration first approved abortion pills in 2000, their use has increased over time as a share of abortions nationally, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. now involve pills, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. The CDC says 56% of U.S. abortions in 2021 involved pills, up from 53% in 2020 and 44% in 2019. Its figures for 2021 include the District of Columbia and 44 states that provided this data; its figures for 2020 include D.C. and 44 states (though not all of the same states as in 2021), and its figures for 2019 include D.C. and 45 states.

Guttmacher, which measures this every three years, says 53% of U.S. abortions involved pills in 2020, up from 39% in 2017.

Two pills commonly used together for medication abortions are mifepristone, which, taken first, blocks hormones that support a pregnancy, and misoprostol, which then causes the uterus to empty. According to the FDA, medication abortions are safe until 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Surgical abortions conducted during the first trimester of pregnancy typically use a suction process, while the relatively few surgical abortions that occur during the second trimester of a pregnancy typically use a process called dilation and evacuation, according to the UCLA School of Medicine.

In 2020, there were 1,603 facilities in the U.S. that provided abortions, according to Guttmacher . This included 807 clinics, 530 hospitals and 266 physicians’ offices.

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing the total number of abortion providers down since 1982.

While clinics make up half of the facilities that provide abortions, they are the sites where the vast majority (96%) of abortions are administered, either through procedures or the distribution of pills, according to Guttmacher’s 2020 data. (This includes 54% of abortions that are administered at specialized abortion clinics and 43% at nonspecialized clinics.) Hospitals made up 33% of the facilities that provided abortions in 2020 but accounted for only 3% of abortions that year, while just 1% of abortions were conducted by physicians’ offices.

Looking just at clinics – that is, the total number of specialized abortion clinics and nonspecialized clinics in the U.S. – Guttmacher found the total virtually unchanged between 2017 (808 clinics) and 2020 (807 clinics). However, there were regional differences. In the Midwest, the number of clinics that provide abortions increased by 11% during those years, and in the West by 6%. The number of clinics decreased during those years by 9% in the Northeast and 3% in the South.

The total number of abortion providers has declined dramatically since the 1980s. In 1982, according to Guttmacher, there were 2,908 facilities providing abortions in the U.S., including 789 clinics, 1,405 hospitals and 714 physicians’ offices.

The CDC does not track the number of abortion providers.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that provided abortion and residency information to the CDC in 2021, 10.9% of all abortions were performed on women known to live outside the state where the abortion occurred – slightly higher than the percentage in 2020 (9.7%). That year, D.C. and 46 states (though not the same ones as in 2021) reported abortion and residency data. (The total number of abortions used in these calculations included figures for women with both known and unknown residential status.)

The share of reported abortions performed on women outside their state of residence was much higher before the 1973 Roe decision that stopped states from banning abortion. In 1972, 41% of all abortions in D.C. and the 20 states that provided this information to the CDC that year were performed on women outside their state of residence. In 1973, the corresponding figure was 21% in the District of Columbia and the 41 states that provided this information, and in 1974 it was 11% in D.C. and the 43 states that provided data.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported age data to the CDC in 2021, the majority of women who had abortions (57%) were in their 20s, while about three-in-ten (31%) were in their 30s. Teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for 8% of those who had abortions, while women ages 40 to 44 accounted for about 4%.

The vast majority of women who had abortions in 2021 were unmarried (87%), while married women accounted for 13%, according to the CDC , which had data on this from 37 states.

A pie chart showing that, in 2021, majority of abortions were for women who had never had one before.

In the District of Columbia, New York City (but not the rest of New York) and the 31 states that reported racial and ethnic data on abortion to the CDC , 42% of all women who had abortions in 2021 were non-Hispanic Black, while 30% were non-Hispanic White, 22% were Hispanic and 6% were of other races.

Looking at abortion rates among those ages 15 to 44, there were 28.6 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic Black women in 2021; 12.3 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women; 6.4 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic White women; and 9.2 abortions per 1,000 women of other races, the CDC reported from those same 31 states, D.C. and New York City.

For 57% of U.S. women who had induced abortions in 2021, it was the first time they had ever had one, according to the CDC. For nearly a quarter (24%), it was their second abortion. For 11% of women who had an abortion that year, it was their third, and for 8% it was their fourth or more. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

A bar chart showing that most U.S. abortions in 2021 were for women who had previously given birth.

Nearly four-in-ten women who had abortions in 2021 (39%) had no previous live births at the time they had an abortion, according to the CDC . Almost a quarter (24%) of women who had abortions in 2021 had one previous live birth, 20% had two previous live births, 10% had three, and 7% had four or more previous live births. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

The vast majority of abortions occur during the first trimester of a pregnancy. In 2021, 93% of abortions occurred during the first trimester – that is, at or before 13 weeks of gestation, according to the CDC . An additional 6% occurred between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy, and about 1% were performed at 21 weeks or more of gestation. These CDC figures include data from 40 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

About 2% of all abortions in the U.S. involve some type of complication for the woman , according to an article in StatPearls, an online health care resource. “Most complications are considered minor such as pain, bleeding, infection and post-anesthesia complications,” according to the article.

The CDC calculates case-fatality rates for women from induced abortions – that is, how many women die from abortion-related complications, for every 100,000 legal abortions that occur in the U.S . The rate was lowest during the most recent period examined by the agency (2013 to 2020), when there were 0.45 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. The case-fatality rate reported by the CDC was highest during the first period examined by the agency (1973 to 1977), when it was 2.09 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. During the five-year periods in between, the figure ranged from 0.52 (from 1993 to 1997) to 0.78 (from 1978 to 1982).

The CDC calculates death rates by five-year and seven-year periods because of year-to-year fluctuation in the numbers and due to the relatively low number of women who die from legal induced abortions.

In 2020, the last year for which the CDC has information , six women in the U.S. died due to complications from induced abortions. Four women died in this way in 2019, two in 2018, and three in 2017. (These deaths all followed legal abortions.) Since 1990, the annual number of deaths among women due to legal induced abortion has ranged from two to 12.

The annual number of reported deaths from induced abortions (legal and illegal) tended to be higher in the 1980s, when it ranged from nine to 16, and from 1972 to 1979, when it ranged from 13 to 63. One driver of the decline was the drop in deaths from illegal abortions. There were 39 deaths from illegal abortions in 1972, the last full year before Roe v. Wade. The total fell to 19 in 1973 and to single digits or zero every year after that. (The number of deaths from legal abortions has also declined since then, though with some slight variation over time.)

The number of deaths from induced abortions was considerably higher in the 1960s than afterward. For instance, there were 119 deaths from induced abortions in 1963 and 99 in 1965 , according to reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC is a division of Health and Human Services.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published May 27, 2022, and first updated June 24, 2022.

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Key facts about the abortion debate in America

Public opinion on abortion, three-in-ten or more democrats and republicans don’t agree with their party on abortion, partisanship a bigger factor than geography in views of abortion access locally, do state laws on abortion reflect public opinion, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Top steel-producing companies 2022/2021

Below is a ranking of the 50 top steel-producing companies. This list is updated in early June every year.

An extended listing of top steel producers in 2021/2022 is available in the PDF under the table.

Tonnage is expressed in million tonnes (Mt).

(e) estimate; (r) revised

Notes: (1) Includes tonnage of Xinyu Steel (2) Includes 60% AM/NS India (former Essar Steel) (3) Includes tonnage of Benxi Steel (4) Includes Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Corporation, Sanyo Special Steel, Ovako, 40% AM/NS India and 31.4% USIMINAS (5) Former Valin Group (6) Estimated combined tonnage of Mobarakeh Steel, Esfahan Steel, Khuzestan Steel and NISCO

Notes on company ownership and tonnage calculations: For worldsteel members, the data was sourced from their official tonnage declarations. For Chinese companies, the official CISA tonnage publication was used, unless especially noted. In case of more than 50% ownership, 100% of the subsidiary’s tonnage is included, unless specified otherwise. In cases of 30%-50% ownership, pro-rata tonnage is included. Unless otherwise specified in the declaration, less than 30% ownership is considered a minority and therefore, not included. Figures represent ownership ending 31 December 2022.

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